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tihxavy  of  trhe  trheolo^ical  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON  ♦  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of 
PhiliD  H.  Waddell  Smith 


BS  480  .W75  1907  "j 

Wright,  G.  Frederick  1838- 

1921. 
Scientific  confirmations  of  - 

Old  Testament  history 


Digitized  by  the  internet  Arcliive 

in  2010  witli  funding  from 

Princeton  Tiieological  Seminary  Library 


Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/scientificconfir02wrig 


SCIENTIFIC    CONFIRMATIONS 

OF    OLD    TESTAMENT    HISTORY 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


The  Logic  of  Christian  Evidences — Andover:  Warren 
F.  Draper,  1880,  lamo,  pp.  xii,  312.  $1.50. 

Studies  in  Science  and  Religion — Warren  F.  Draper, 
1882,  i2mo,  pp.  xvi,  390.  $1.50. 

The  Ice  Age  in  North  America  and  Its  Bearings  upon 
THE  Antiquity  of  Man — New  York:  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  4th  ed.,  1889,  8vo,  pp.  xl,  648.  $5.00. 

Charles  Grandison  Finney — (American  Religious 
Leaders  Series) — Boston:  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 
1891,  i2mo,  pp.  329.  $1.25. 

Man  and  the  Glacial  Period — (International  Scientific 
Series) — D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1897,  i2mo,  pp.  xxxii, 
358.   $1.75- 

Greenland  Ice  Fields  and  Life  in  the  North  At- 
lantic— D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1896,  i2mo,  pp.  xv,  407. 
$2.00. 

Scientific  Aspects  of  Christian  Evidences — D.  Apple- 
ton  &   Co.,   1898,   i2mo,  pp.  xi,   262.  $1.50. 

Asiatic  Russia — New  York:  McClure,  Phillips  &  Co., 
1902,  two  vols.,  8vo,  pp.  600.  $7.50. 


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Scientific  Confirmations 

of    Old     Testament    History^ 


BY 

G.  FREDERICK  WRIGHT 
D.D.,  LL.D..  F.G.S.A. 


"  An  apparent  improbability  is,  when  verified,  the  surest 
witness  to  the  truth  " 


ILLUSTRATED 


SECOND  EDITION 


OBERLIN.  OHIO,  U.  S.  A. 

BIBLIOTHECA  SACRA  COMPANY 

1907 


COPYRIGHTED    I906   BY 
BIBLIOTHECA    SACRA    COMPANY 


The  News  Printing  Co.,  Oberlin.  O. 


To  the 

©ruatpra  of  (ibrrlin  (Unllrgp 

"in  recognition  of  the  generous  interest  which 

has  made  the  prosecution  of  my 

investigations  possible 

I  dedicate  this  volume 


PREFACE. 

The  conclusions  recorded  in  the  present  volume  are 
both  a  cause  and  a  result.     They  were  the  cause  of  the 
establishment  of  the  chair  which   I   now  occupy,   and 
they  are  the  result  of  the  investigations  made  possible 
by  the  generousness  of  its  provisions.     Fourteen  years 
ago  these  conclusions  were  dimly  seen  "  as  trees  walk- 
ing."    At  that  time,  the  importance  of  enabling  me  to 
follow  out  to  the  full  extent  the  investigations  upon  the 
relations   of   man   to   the   post-Tertiary    (or   Glacial) 
epoch  which  I  had  been  prosecuting  for  twenty  years 
led   the   trustees   of  Oberlin   College   to   establish   the 
professorship  of  The  Harmony  of  Science  and  Revela- 
tion, and  to  appoint  me  the  first  incumbent.     The  pro- 
visions of  the  chair  allowed  me  the  freedom  of  the  first 
half  of  each  year,  in  order  to  pursue  at  my  own  discre- 
tion the  lines  of  investigation  upon  which  I   had  en- 
tered ;  while  a  year  and  a  half  was  at  one  time  granted 
me  to  make  a  complete  circuit  of  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere to  visit   regions  in   the  Old  World   which   are 
ordinarily  inaccessible.     For  these  and  other  privileges 
so  generously  granted  me  by  the  trustees  and  facult>  of 
Oberlin  College,   I   here  take  occasion  to  express  my 
profound  appreciation. 


X  Preface. 

Since  my  appointment,  the  subject  has  never  for  one 
moment  been  out  of  my  mind,  and  I  have  availed  my- 
self of  every  opportunity  to  enlarge  the  horizon  of  my 
vision  in  the  direction  of  the  interpretation  both  of  the 
Bible,  and  of  the  rapidly  accumulating  facts  relating 
to  recent  geological  events  which  have  had  a  profound 
influence  upon  the  early  history  of  man.  In  1904  the 
results  so  far  attained  were  made  the  theme  of  the 
Stone  Lectures  in  Princeton.  Their  publication,  how- 
ever, has  been  delayed  until  the  present  time,  in  order 
that  I  might  avail  myself  of  the  information  gathered 
during  a  third  extended  visit  to  the  localities  on  the 
eastern  continent  where  the  facts  could  be  most  profit- 
ably studied.  It  has  also  seemed  best  not  to  retain  the 
lecture  form,  but  to  treat  the  subject  in  the  more  elab- 
orate manner  which  is  suitable  for  the  reader.  In  a 
subsequent  volume  I  shall  treat  of  the  broader  question 
of  The  Origin  and  Antiquity  of  the  Human  Race, — a 
subject  upon  which  recent  geological  investigations  are 
shedding  new  and  increasing  light. 

The  present  work  is  committed  to  the  public  in  the 
hope  of  doing  something  to  reestablish  confidence  in  the 
historical  statements  of  the  Old  Testament,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  of  so  unfolding  the  marvelous  geological 
events   of   the    post-Tertiary   period    as    to    incite    the 


Preface.  xi 

general  reader  to  a  closer  study  of  its  significant  and 
overwhelming  facts,  which  invite  investigation  on  every 
hand.  The  discussion  is  believed  to  be  also  eminently 
worthy  of  the  attention  of  geologists,  many  of  whom 
are  so  engrossed  in  their  special  studies  that  they  have 
little  leisure  or  inclination  to  consider  the  action  of 
geological  forces  in  their  more  general  application.  All 
students  both  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  early  history  of 
mankind,  as  well  as  of  geology,  will,  I  am  sure,  find 
satisfaction  in  the  light  which  science  is  here  made  to 
shed  upon  some  of  the  early  traditions  of  mankind. 

The  convictions  formulated  in  the  present  volume 
have  deepened  as  investigations  have  proceeded  from 
year  to  year.  It  remains  to  attempt  to  get  the  facts  so 
clearly  and  fully  before  the  public  that  it  shall  have  the 
same  basis  for  judging  the  conclusions  which  the  writer 
has  attained  for  himself.  As  such  an  attempt,  the  vol- 
ume is  commended  to  the  charitable  consideration  and 
the  criticism  of  all  students  who  have  given  attention 
to  any  of  the  phases  of  the  broad  subject  which  has 
here  received  general  treatment. 

G.  Frederick  Wright. 

Oberlin,  Ohio,  November  3,  1906.     • 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. 

The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament  3 

Christianity  an  historical  religion — Written  history 
indispensable  to  progress — A  stimulus  to  the  intellect 
— A  high  degree  of  certainty  attainable  by  historical 
evidence — Historical  evidences  of  Christianity — The 
Old  Testament  indorsed  by  the  New. 

Chapter  II. 

Middle   and   Later  Jewish   History  33 

Different  ways  of  writing  history — Connecting  links 
of  the  argument — Historical  setting  of  the  book  of 
Daniel — Destruction  of  Sennacherib's  army — The 
times  of  Ahab  and  Jehu — The  black  obelisk  of  Shal- 
maneser  II. — The  Moabite  stone — The  expedition  of 
Shishak — Brevity  of  the  book  of  Judges — Joshua's 
command  to  the  sun  to  stand  still. 

Chapter  III. 

Israel  in  Egypt  67 

Principles  of  interpretation — Famines  in  Egypt — The 
sources  of  the  Nile — Vacillations  of  the  government. 

Chapter  IV. 

The  Exodus  83 

Definition  of  miracle — Passage  of  the  Red  Sea — 
Physical  conditions  north  of  Suez — Former  depres- 
sion of  the  land — The  effect  of  wind  on  water  levels. 


xiv  Contents. 


Chapter  V. 

Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine  ii8 

The  great  "fault"  of  the  Jordan  Valley— The  fall- 
ing of  the  walls  of  Jericho — The  parting  of  the 
waters  of  the  Jordan — The  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah — The  fourteenth  chapter  of  Genesis. 

Chapter  VI. 

Traditions  of  the  Deluge  159 

Comparison  with  other  traditions — The  log-book  of 
Noah — Extent  of  the  Deluge — The  date  of  the  Del- 
uge. 

Chapter  VII. 

Scientific  Credibility  of  the  Deluge  198 

The  uniformitarian  theory  in  geology — All  geolog- 
ical movements  comparatively  slight — Recent  great 
geological  changes — The  latest  geological  epoch  one 
of  great  changes  of  level. 

Chapter  VIII. 

The    Glacial    Epoch    as   a   Vera    Causa  220 

Magnitude  of  the  forces  involved — Recency  of  the 
Glacial    epoch. 

Chapter  IX. 

Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe  238 

The  rubble  drift,  or  "  head  " — Ossiferous  fissures — 
The  loess  deposits  of  Europe. 


Contents.  xv 

Chapter  X. 

Evidenc*  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia  283 

The  loess  of  Northern  China — Wind  and  water  the 
distributing  agencies — Corroborative  evidence  of  a 
depression    of    Asia — Remains    of    antediluvian    man. 

Chapter  XI. 

The  Deluge  in  North  America  323 

Glacial  lakes  of  North  America — Floods  of  the  Mis- 
souri River — Recent  destruction  of  animal  species — 
Summary   and   conclusion — Objections   answered. 

Chapter  XII. 

Genesis  and  Science  368 

Earlier  views  of  the  author — Dana's  summary  of  the 
scientific  facts — Remarkable  parallelism  of  the  Mo- 
saic account. 

Appendix  387 

Index  419 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 
Interglacial  Forest  Uncovered  by  the  Retreat  of 

the  Muir  Glacier,  Alaska  Frontispiece 

General  View  of  the  Crow's  Nest  from  the  Pyramids  98 

Near  View  of  the  Raised  Beach  on  the  Crow's  Nest  99 

Conglomerate  Knob  in  Desert  North  of  Suez  104 

View  of  Jebel  Attaka,  from  the  Vicinity  of  Pi-hahiroth  109 
Submerged  Trees  above  the  Cascades  of  the  Columbia 

River  133 

Cut  for  the  Canal  South  of  the  Cascades  139 

Sedimentary  Banks  of  the  Jordan  142 

Burning  Oil   Well   at   Baku  147 
Cross-Section  Showing  the  Depth  of  the  Southern  Part 

of  Lake   Baikal  209 

Raised  Beach   in   Sweden  219 
General  View  of  the  Rubble  Drift  at  East  Brighton, 

England  242 

Near  View  of  the  Raised  Beach  at  East  Brighton  244 

Section  of  the  West  End  of  Sangatte  Cliff,  near  Calais  247 
Diagram  Showing  the  Direction  of  the  Currents  on  a 

Hill  Range  during  Uplift  253 

The  Mountain  of  Santenay  259 

Transverse  Section  of  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  263 

Mouth  of  the  Cave  of  San  Ciro,  near  Palermo  266 

Raised  Beach  on  the  Island  of  Guernsey  276 

Diagram  Section  across  the  Island  of  Guernsey  278 

Section  from  La  Motte  to  Ube  279 

Delta  of  Loess  at  Nankau,  China  288 

Rows  of  Houses  in  the  Loess  at  Shiwantse,  China  290 

House  in  the  Loess   at  Shiwantse  294 

A  Bluff  of  Partially  Stratified  Loess  in  China  296 

Excavated  Cliff  of  Loess  at  Tashkent  299 

Raised   Beach   at  Trebizond  316 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS. 

Pagfc 

Bluff  of  Loess  at  Kief,  Russia  319 
Cross-Section    of    the    Osage    Trough    at    Tuscumbia, 

with  a  Canadian  Boulder  335 
Bluff  of  Loess  facing  the  Missouri  River  at  Lansing, 

Kan.  345 
Stratified  Loess  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  346 
Mammoth  from  Siberia  in  the  Museum  at  St.  Peters- 
burg 349 

MAPS. 

Map  of  the  Delta,  or  Lower  Egypt  96 
Map  of   Lower  Egypt   during   a   Depression  of   Three 

Hundred  Feet  102 

Map  of  Lake  Baikal  208 

Map  of  Glaciated  Areas  in  North  America  and  Europe  222 

Map  of  Bay  of  Palermo  269 

Map  of  Supposed  Post-Glacial  Submergence  in  Asia  304 
Map    of    Glaciation    in    Eastern    and    Central    United 

States  326 
Map    of   the   Glaciated    Area   in   the   Lower   Missouri 

Valley  340 


Scientific  Confirmations  of  Old 
Testament  History. 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Christianity  is  preeminently  an  historical  religion. 
Its  specific  characteristics  consist  in  the  revelation  of 
God  made  through  the  personal  life  of  the  incarnate 
Word.  Because  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us,  we  have  been  enabled  to  behold  his  glory, 
even  the  glory  of  the  onlj^-begotten  Son  of  God.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  saving  truths  revealed  in  the  life  of 
Christ  does  not  come  to  us  through  intuition  or  imme- 
diate revelation,  except  as  these  illumine  lines  of  his- 
torical evidence.  Christ  was  crucified  once  for  all,  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  fact  was  committed  to  the  keep- 
ing of  the  historical  forces  radiating  throughout  the 
future  from  that  point  of  time.  This  precious  treasure 
of  knowledge  was  committed  to  the  care  of  the  first 
disciples  of  Christ,  and  through  them  to  the  Christian 
chfurch,  thereby  exalting  her  members  to  the  responsi- 
ble position  of  co-workers  with  God  in  the  spread  of 
his  kingdom  on  earth.  All  this  is  briefly  expressed  in 
the  familiar  statement  that  the  church  of  Christ  is  a 


4  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

missionary  organization.  The  last  command  of  her 
divine  Lord  and  Master  was,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit:  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever   I    commanded    you." 

This  dependence  of  Christianity  upon  facts  which 
can  be  proved  only  through  historical  processes  is  often 
urged  as  an  objection  to  the  sj'stem,  it  being  alleged 
that  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  in  so  important 
a  matter  as  their  religious  life,  God  would  make  his 
creatures  dependent  upon  such  uncertain  evidence  as 
that  by  which  historical  facts  are  established.  But 
closer  consideration  of  the  subject  will  show:  ( i )  that 
man's  dependence  upon  historical  facts  for  his  highest 
religious  development  is  in  close  analogy  with  his  de- 
pendence upon  the  past  for  civilization  in  general;  (2) 
that  that  ordering  of  Divine  Providence  by  which 
successive  generations  are  made  largely  dependent  upon 
their  predecessors,  and  by  which  the  favored  portions 
of  mankind  to  whom  much  has  been  given  are  made 
responsible  for  the  transmission  of  these  gifts  to  the 
less  favored,  is  one  of  the  richest  boons  which  have  been 
conferred  upon  the  race;  (3)  that  the  certainty  of 
conclusions  reached  through  historical  evidence  may  be, 
and  in  the  case  of  Christianity  is,  of  the  very  highest 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  5 

order,  and  such  as  universally  commands  the  assent,  and 
directs  the  activity,  of  men  in  their  ordinary  affairs. 

WRITTEN    HISTORY    INDISPENSABLE    TO    PROGRESS. 

I.  With  reference  to  the  first  point  it  is  sufficient 
to  remark,  that,  as  an  intellectual  being,  man  is  chiefly 
characterized  by  his  ability  to  attain,  through  inductive 
reasoning,  a  knowledge  of  the  past  which  lies  beyond 
the  reach  of  memory,  and  to  make  it  the  basis  of  ad- 
vancing to  that  wider  knowledge  of  the  future  which 
secures  the  progress  of  the  race.  Indeed,  it  is  just  this 
which  riiakes  the  difference  between  civilization  and 
savagery.  The  savage  is  limited  in  knowledge  to  his 
immediate  intuitions  and  perceptions,  eked  out  by  still 
scantier  information  obtained  through  tradition  and  his 
imperfect  means  of  obtaining  testimony  from  his  con- 
temporaries. It  is  almost  exclusively  through  books 
that  the  successive  generations  of  the  civilized  world 
obtain  the  results  of  the  past  experience  of  mankind, 
and  thus  are  able  to  lift  themselves  to  a  height  from 
which  the  horizon  of  their  intellectual  vision  can  be 
greatly  expanded.  It  is  chiefly  by  reason  of  written 
documents  that  each  generation  of  civilized  men  is  en- 
abled to  stand  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  generation 
which  has  preceded.  Destroy  literature,  rob  the  pres- 
ent of  that  definite  knowledge  of  the  past  which  it  ob- 
tains through  written  documents,  and  progress  would 


6  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

at   once   be    checked,    and    mankind    would    revert    to 
barbarism. 

If  one  is  inclined  to  challenge  this  proposition,  his 
doubts  will  be  dissipated  by  a  little  well-directed  re- 
flection. In  astronomy  the  whole  system  rests  upon 
disconnected  measurements  and  observations  made  and 
reported  by  a  great  number  of  observers  whose  record 
is  the  basis  for  all  mathematical  calculations  concerning 
the  size  and  movement  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Our 
estimation  of  the  size  of  the  earth,  for  example,  is  de- 
pendent upon  a  few  careful  measurements  which  have 
been  made  upon  an  arc  of  its  circumference.  It  is  not 
within  the  power  of  the  individual  to  repeat  these 
measurements.  He  is  compelled  to  trust  the  record  of 
work  done  by  others.  In  chemistry,  likewise,  it  is  out 
of  the  question  for  each  individual  investigator  to  go 
through  all  the  processes  by  which  the  nature  of  the 
various  elements  has  been  determined.  It  would  be  a 
sorry  condition  of  things,  indeed,  if  all  the  violent  ex- 
plosives and  deadly  poisons  had  to  be  discovered  anew 
by  every  experimenter.  Geology,  also,  is  a  system  of 
facts  discovered  by  a  wide  range  of  investigators.  It 
is  entirely  bej'ond  the  capacity  of  any  one  man  to  sur- 
vey the  whole  field.  The  work  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  is  carried  on  by  a  whole  army  of 
investigators  who  bring  in  their  results  to  await  corre- 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  7 

lation  at  the  central  bureau  by  experts  dependent  for 
their  facts  upon  the  written  reports. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  realm  of  those  higher  and  more 
delicately  balanced  forces  pertaining  to  the  political 
and  social  life  of  man  that  he  is  most  strikingly  depend- 
ent upon  the  wisdom  handed  down  from  preceding 
generations.  Imperfect  as  are  political  and  sociological 
theories,  how  utterly  useless  would  they  be  if  we  were 
shut  off  from  the  access  to  the  world's  experience  which 
is  furnished  us  through  written  documents  pertaining 
both  to  the  past  and  to  the  present!  The  statesmen  who 
mark  out  the  lines  of  national  polity  for  the  future, 
and  the  military  commanders  who  control  the  armies 
that  serve  as  the  bulwark  of  national  defense,  would 
be  poorly  prepared  indeed  for  their  work  if  they  had 
but  the  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  experience  of  others 
which  is  furnished  by  oral  testimony.  If  it  be  true,  as 
it  certainly  is,  that  the  patriot  and  statesman  has  no 
lamp  but  the  past  to  guide  him  into  the  future,  he  must 
set  a  very  high  value  upon  the  definite  historical  records 
in  which  the  light  of  the  past  is  concentrated.  Indeed, 
what  would  statesmen  and  judges  do  without  prece- 
dent by  which  to  guide  their  action  amid  the  compli- 
cated casuistries  arising  anew  with  every  step  into  the 
future?  It  should  not  therefore  seem  strange  that  in 
religion  we  are  bound  to  the  past  by  a  similar  law  of 


8  •    The  Witness  of  the  Neiv  Testament. 

dependence,  nor  that  the  written  word  should  be 
highly  exalted  among  the  agencies  by  which  the  wis- 
dom of  the  past  is  brought  within  our  reach  and  made 
serviceable  to  us.  In  fact,  it  is  in  accordance  with  all 
analogy  that  the  highest  religion  of  the  world  should  be 
perpetuated  through  historical  forces,  and  embodied  in 
a  book. 

A   STIMULUS   TO  THE   INTELLECT. 

2.  From  an  intellectual  point  of  view,  also,  it  is 
not  a  reproach,  but  a  glory,  to  Christianity,  that  it  is 
an  historical  religion ;  since  it  brings  into  exercise, 
through  historical  research,  the  highest  powers  of  our 
rational  nature,  and  cultivates  that  capacity  for  in- 
ductive reasoning  which  is  the  pride  of  the  pre^nt  age 
of  advancement.  Indeed,  history  affords  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  fields  for  inductive  reasoning,  and  in  its 
study  brings  into  requisition  all  branches  of  knowledge 
and  every  faculty  of  the  intellect.  Hence  it  is  the  best 
basis  possible  for  the  symmetrical  development  of  the 
human  mind.  For  it  is  worthy  of  notice  in  this  con- 
nection that  there  is  not  that  difference  between 
direct  and  circumstantial  evidence  which  is  often 
insisted  upon.  All  evidence  is  circumstantial.  The 
direct  testimony  of  a  witness  is  but  a  circumstance. 
The  truth  or  falsity  of  his  testimony  has  to  be  de- 
termined   by    a    wide    range    of    considerations.      The 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  g 

existence  of  a  written  document  is  likewise  but 
a  circumstance.  The  validity  of  its  testimony  has 
to  be  established  by  the  circumstances  under  which 
it  has  come  to  our  notice,  by  inspection  of  its 
contents,  and  by  comparison  of  its  statements  with  the 
known  conditions  surrounding  its  alleged  facts.  Thus 
every  department  of  science  may  be  brought  in  to  con- 
tribute evidence,  of  more  or  less  cogency,  bearing  upon 
the  truth  of  a  literary  document.  The  question  of  its 
forgery  may  depend  upon  chemical  analysis  of  its  ink, 
or  upon  the  water-lines  in  its  paper,  or  upon  the  in- 
capacity of  a  forger  to  produce  the  document  within  a 
given  time,  or  upon  the  inability  of  later  writers  per- 
fectly to  simulate  the  character  of  the  times  to  which 
the  document  purports  to  pertain. 

It  will  prepare  us  for  a  readier  acceptance  of  the 
divine  plan  of  revelation  if  we  consider  more  fully  the 
incidental  advantages  arising  from  having  this  treasure 
committed  to  the  earthen  vessels  of  history,  and  made 
dependent  upon  our  care  for  its  preservation.  The 
highest  favor  which  God  has  conferred  upon  man  is 
that  of  exalting  him  to  the  position  of  a  co-worker  in 
the  plan  of  salvation.  It  is  at  once  a  recognition  of  his 
godlike  qualities,  a  means  of  his  highest  development, 
and  the  gratification  of  his  noblest  aspirations.  At  first 
thought   it   would    seem    that   Almighty    Power   could 


lO  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

best  accomplish  its  objects  directly,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  so  imperfect  a  secondary  cause  as  is  the 
human  will.  Indeed,  from  Celsus  to  Huxley  it  has 
been  a  standing  objection  to  the  Christian  system  that 
miracles  are  so  few.  "  If,"  it  is  said,  "  the  God  of  the 
Christians  is  able  to  perform  miracles,  and  is  at  the 
same  time  compassionate,  it  is  absurd  that  his  miracu- 
lous acts  should  be  so  limited  as  they  are  represented  to 
have  been  in  the  biblical  record."  The  rational  justi- 
fication of  this  plan  by  which  so  much  is  left  to  human 
initiative  is,  that  thereby  man  is  exalted  to  a  position 
of  high  privilege,  in  which  a  field  of  boundless  devel- 
opment is  open  before  him.  By  virtue  of  his  moral 
freedom,  man  becomes  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune, 
and  at  the  same  time  in  a  most  important  sense  his 
brother's  keeper.  The  obedience  which  he  renders  to 
law  is  not  forced  and  mechanical,  but  partakes  of  the 
divine  element  of  all-comprehensive  love. 

The  dependence  of  children  upon  their  parents  is 
but  a  type  of  the  dependence,  in  a  broader  sense,  of  the 
successive  generations  of  mankind  upon  their  ancestors, 
and  of  the  less-favored  races  of  the  world  upon  the 
more-favored.  Results  of  the  highest  and  most  benefi- 
cent order  follow  upon  the  divinely  ordered  arrange- 
ment that  man  is  everywhere  and  always  his  brother's 
keeper.     In  no  other  way  are  we  so  stimulated  to  honor 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  1 1 

our  ancestors  as  through  the  study  of  the  heroic  efforts 
which  they  have  made  to  perpetuate  for  the  use  of 
their  successors  the  truths  of  experience  and  revelation 
which  have  been  committed  to  their  keeping.  Among 
the  strongest  of  all  earthly  ties  are  those  which  bind  a 
pupil  to  his  teacher.  It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the 
value  of  the  bonds  of  affection  which  are  being  formed 
at  the  present  time  between  heathen  and  Christian  na- 
tions through  the  great  missionary  movements  which 
are  in  operation.  Through  these  efforts  the  unfathom- 
able depths  of  compassion  on  the  one  side  and  grati- 
tude on  the  other  are  opening  up,  and  the  whole  life  of 
the  world  is  being  enriched  beyond  measure  for  time 
and  eternity.  Only  when  Christian  nations  shall  give 
to  others  as  freely  as  they  have  received  will  the  broth- 
erhood of  humanity  reach  its  fullest  expression  and 
culmination. 

A  HIGH  DEGREE  OF   CERTAINTY  ATTAINABLE   BY 
HISTORICAL  EVIDENCE. 

3.  It  is  a  common  mistake  of  the  present  age  to 
underestimate  the  certainty  w^hich  is  arrived  at  through 
historical  evidence.  In  the  recent  remarkable  develop- 
ment of  mathematical  and  experimental  sciences,  many 
persons  seem  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  proba- 
ble evidence  is  still  all  we  have  to  go  upon  when  we 
venture  a  step  beyond  our  intuitions  and  immediate  per- 


12  The  M  itness  of  the  Neiv  Testament. 

ceptions.  Wherever  mathematical  formuL-e  are  applied 
to  realities,  the  conclusions  partake  of  the  uncertainty 
which  besets  our  knowledge  of  the  real  things  which 
we  multipl}^  or  divide, — in  other  words,  proof  ceases  to 
be  demonstrative; — while  in  direct  perceptions  all  that 
we  are  absolutely  certain  of  is  that  which  comes  within 
the  sphere  of  immediate  sensation,  only  a  portion  of 
which  is  carried  along  in  our  experience  by  memory. 
The  conclusions  reached  by  inductive  reasoning  are, 
therefore,  from  a  mathematical  point  of  view,  defective. 
Yet  they  are  all  we  have  with  which  to  guide  our  con- 
duct and  direct  our  movements  through  illimitable 
space  and  unending  time.  As  moral  and  practical  be- 
ings, it  is  our  business  to  form  the  best  conclusions  we 
can  from  the  data  which  are  given  us,  and  act  upon 
them  according  to  the  light  we  have.  It  is  this  which 
constitutes  the  moral  trial  of  mankind. 

In  the  literature  of  the  present  day  we  often  meet 
with  such  statements  as  that  "  we  cannot  prove  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,"  "  we  cannot  prove  the  benev- 
olence of  the  Creator,"  "  we  cannot  prove  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Fourth  Gospel  or  of  the  Second  Epistle  of 
Peter  " ;  and  this  by  writers  who  would  feel  insulted 
if  they  were  charged  with  disbelieving  in  immortality 
or  in  the  benevolence  of  God,  or  of  believing  in  the 
spuriousness  of  any  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament. 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  13 

Nor  would  they  be  willing  to  be  set  down  as  pure  ag- 
nostics respecting  these  questions.  Many  Avho  are  given 
to  such  ill-considered  statements  both  misrepresent 
themselves  and  confuse  their  readers  by  using  the  word 
"  proof  "  in  a  sense  which  is  proper  only  in  the  mathe- 
matical and  purely  demonstrative  sciences.  When  they 
are  questioned  more  carefully,  it  is  usually  found  that 
they  acknowledge  such  a  preponderance  of  evidence 
upon  manj^  of  these  questions  which  they  have  said  to 
be  incapable  of  proof,  that  they  firmly  cherish  their 
conclusions  as  practical  beliefs,  and  use  them  as  the 
guide  of  their  lives.  Thus  do  they  illustrate  the  all- 
important  truth  that  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life  we 
are  not  at  liberty  to  demand  any  clearer  and  higher 
evidence  than  the  nature  of  the  subject  will  admit,  and 
that,  so  long  as  there  is  a  preponderance  of  evidence 
upon  one  side,  we  are  to  follow  that,  and  permit  it  to 
shed  what  light  it  can  upon  the  pathway  of  the  future. 
But  the  evidences  of  Christianity  are  far  from  being 
of  a  low  order.  The  truthfulness  of  the  historical  state- 
ments made  in  the  New  Testament  is  capable  of  being 
established  to  a  very  high  degree  of  certainty;  so  that 
the  Christian  system,  so  far  as  it  rests  upon  those  state- 
ments, takes  high  rank  among  the  inductive  sciences  as 
they  are  regarded  even  in  the  twentieth  century.  Any 
one  who  should  doubt  the  general  historical  statements 


14  The  Witness  of  the  Neiu  Testament. 

current  concerning  the  career  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
or  of  Julius  Caesar,  or  of  Charlemagne,  or  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  either  is  grossly  ignorant  or  has  a  very  ab- 
normally constituted  mind.  Without  stopping  to  ana- 
lyze the  evidence  through  which  we  arrive  at  this 
impregnable  belief  concerning  such  historical  careers, 
we  can  affirm  with  perfect  assurance  that  these  and 
innumerable  similar  beliefs  are  as  firmly  established, 
and  approach  as  near  to  certainty,  as  any  of  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at  by  inductive  reasoning.  History  is 
an  inductive  science  whose  central  facts  are  as  certain 
as  those  of  any  other  inductive  science,  and  whose  range 
of  uncertainty  is  no  greater  when  one  gets  away  from 
their  central  conclusions.  Indeed,  we  know  less  about 
the  borderlands  of  chemistry,  astronomy,  and  geology 
than  we  do  about  the  borderland  of  human  history.^ 

HISTORICAL    EVIDENCES    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

In  order  to  get  started  upon  our  investigation  of  the 
foundations  of  Old  Testament  history,  it  will  be  profit- 
able, and  indeed  necessary,  to  give  a  resume  of  the 
evidence  upon  which  we  receive  the  New  Testament  as 
a  correct  historical  representation  of  the  origin  of 
Christianity;  for  Christianity  is  most  clearly  an  out- 
growth of  Jewish  history,  and,  to  a  degree  which  is 
now  too  often  disregarded  or  denied,  the  New  Testa- 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  15 

ment  is  sponsor  to  the  Old,  and  sets  us  upon  an  inves- 
tigation of  Old  Testament  history  with  presumptions 
regarding  its  truthfulness  which  are  of  the  highest 
evidential  value. 

He  who  inherits  Christianity  as  his  birthright  is  so 
early  made  familiar  with  Christian  civilization  that  it 
is  difficult  to  realize  that  it  is  not  a  natural  product  of 
the  world  in  which  he  lives.  On  every  hand  he  sees 
churches  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Jesus  Christ,  and, 
upon  entering  them,  joins  in  services  which  from  be- 
ginning to  end  center  upon  the  personal  history  of  the 
Founder  to  whom  the  building  is  dedicated.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  services  Christ's  blessing  is  invoked. 
The  anthems  of  the  choir  and  the  hymns  of  the  con- 
gregation sound  aloud  the  praises  of  Christ.  Some 
portion  of  the  Bible  is  read  with  solemn  reverence. 
The  sermon  is  an  exposition  of  some  text  of  this  sacred 
scripture.  The  audience  is  dismissed  with  the  benedic- 
tion of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 

Gathered  about  these  churches  are  numerous  other 
less  formal  agencies  for  impressing  the  reality  of  this 
history  upon  the  minds  of  the  young.  The  ordinances 
of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  give  unique  promi- 
nence to  the  central  historical  facts  of  Christ's  life; 
while  the  daily  use  of  the  calendar,  which  reckons  time 
from  the  birth  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  compels 


1 6  The  liitness  of  the  New  Testament, 

even  the  most  reluctant  to  do  homage  to  the  Divine 
Master.  In  short,  he  who  is  born  in  a  Christian  land 
is,  at  the  outset,  launched  upon  a  mighty  stream  of 
Christian  influences  which  every  one  with  the  clearness 
of  direct  intuition  sees  must  have  an  adequate  fountain- 
head. 

The  normal  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  it 
cannot  easily  disengage  itself  from  the  presumption  that 
so  powerful  and  beneficent  a  stream  of  influence  as 
Christianity  is,  must  have  originated  through  some 
such  historical  facts  as  are  recorded  in  the  sacred  books 
which  are  now  read  in  the  churches.  So  strong  is 
this  presumption,  that  one  is  not  at  liberty  to  disregard 
it,  except  upon  obtaining  abundant  evidence  to  the 
contrary.  The  very  existence  of  Christianity  as  em- 
bodied in  the  ordinances  and  Christian  activities  of  the 
church  is  its  strongest  evidence,  and,  in  absence  of 
proof  to  the  contrary,  is  entitled  to  absolute  sway.  The 
burden  of  proof  does  not  properly  fall  upon  the  defend- 
ers of  Christianity,  but  upon  those  who  attack  it  and 
endeavor  to  overthrow  it.  Its  position  is  like  that  of 
a  man  or  woman  of  good  repute,  whose  character  is 
not  to  be  challenged  except  upon  the  presentation  of 
adequate  positive  evidence.  Even  a  criminal  is  not 
compelled  to  prove  his  innocence,  but  is  allowed  sim- 
ply to  defend  himself  against  the  definite  charges  of  his 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testatnent.  1 7 

accusers.  The  evidential  value  of  such  presumptions 
should  not  be  overlooked.  In  a  well-established  system 
the  general  presumptions  in  its  favor  rightfully  prevail 
until  all  objections  are  definitely  supported  by  positive 
evidence.  The  acceptance  of  the  theory  of  gravitation, 
for  example,  is  not  rendered  untenable  by  the  fact  that 
there  are  many  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies  that 
cannot  yet  be  brought  clearly  in  harmony  with  it 
through  definite  knowledge  of  the  causes  producing  the 
movements. 

For  the  majority  of  Christian  believers,  this  general 
evidence  is  sufficient,  and  the  confidence  they  repose 
in  it  is  amply  justified  by  the  principles  of  inductive 
logic.  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits.  The  fruits  of 
Christianity  abound  on  every  hand  in  the  noble  char- 
acters and  the  beneficent  institutions  of  Christian  civi- 
lization;  while  the  adaptation  of  Christianity  to  the 
wants  of  the  individual  soul  is  so  perfect  that  it  cannot 
well  be  explained  in  any  other  way  than  on  the  theory 
of  its  truth.  An  insatiable  hunger  of  the  soul  drives  men 
to  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  as  starving  men  are 
led  to  welcome  provisions  for  their  bodily  nourishment. 
In  the  case  of  Christianity  the  testimony  of  successive 
generations  to  its  fitness  for  satisfying  their  spiritual 
hunger  is  evidence  of  the  highest  order. 

In  the  practical  presentation  of  Christian  evidences, 


1 8  21ie  IFitness  of  the  Neiv  Testament. 

therefore,  too  much  weight  cannot  be  given  to  those 
facts  which  deepen  in  men  their  sense  of  sin  and  of 
dependence  upon  divine  care.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  facts  the  mind  is  stimulated  to  see  and  appreciate 
the  wonderful  adaptation  of  Christianit}'  to  human 
want,  and  to  recognize  the  stamp  of  truth  which  lies 
in  this  fact  of  adaptation.  It  is  therefore  correct  to  s^y 
that  the  conviction  of  the  truth  of  .Christianity  begins 
with  the  religious  experience  of  the  church.  The  con- 
viction of  its  truth  by  those  who  have  experienced  its 
saving  power  is  like  that  of  a  starving  man  whose  hun- 
ger has  been  satisfied  by  appropriate  food.  Not  only 
does  he  have  a  conviction,  resting  in  his  own  experience, 
that  this  food  was  designed  to  meet  his  want,  but  he  is 
able  to  transmit  the  evidence  which  he  has  obtained 
through  experience  to  others  who  are  feeling  a  similar 
want. 

But,  to  those  who  wish  to  follow  up  these  lines  of 
evidence  to  their  source,  the  means  are  readily  at  hand, 
and  the  process  is  as  truly  scientific  as  that  which  is 
pursued  in  any  of  the  inductive  sciences;  while  the 
conclusiveness  of  the  evidence  is  such  as  cannot  be  de- 
nied by  any  one  who  gives  it  adequate  and  candid  at- 
tention. For  we  find  no  break  in  the  continuity  of  the 
historical  evidences  of  Christianity  until  we  reach  the 
early  part  of  the  second  century,  or  to  a  point  of  time 


The  Witness  of  the  Neiv  Testament.  ig 

which  is  separated  from  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  by 
less  than  one  hundred  years.  Up  to  this  point  no  one 
would  now  have  the  hardihood  to  deny  that  the  New 
Testament,  substantially  as  we  have  it  to-day,  has  been 
universally  regarded  by  Christian  believers  as  genuine 
and  authentic.  It  was  made  the  basis  of  comment  and 
instruction,  in  exactly  the  same  way,  by  Origen,  Tertul- 
lian,  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  at  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century,  and  by  Irenaeus  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  second  century,  that  it  is  by  Christian  teachers  at 
the  present  time.  The  four  Gospels  were  the  sole 
source  from  which  Justin  Martyr,  in  the  iniddle  of  the 
second  century,  drew  the  facts  with  which  he  en- 
deavored to  convince  the  Roman  emperor  of  the  impor- 
tance and  truth  of  the  Christian  system ;  while,  by  a 
remarkable  series  of  recent  discoveries,  we  have  had 
brought  to  light  the  fact  that  the  long-lost  "  Diatessa- 
ron  "  of  Tatian,  prepared  by  a  pupil  and  companion  of 
Justin  ]\Iartyr  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
is  nothing  else  than  a  harmony  of  the  four  Gospels, 
such  as  is  prepared  at  the  present  time  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  Christian  public.  In  the  light  of  these  dis- 
coveries there  is  now  no  one  left  to  challenge  the  state- 
ment that  the  four  Gospels  substantially  in  their  present 
form  were,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  second  century, 
recognized  as  the  sole  depository  of  the  facts  of  Christ's 


20  The  JVitness  of  the  I\  eiv  Testament. 

life  which  have  been  the  basis  of  his  developing  system 
of  truth. 

As  a  scientific  problem  the  question  is,  to  determine 
how  at  so  early  a  date  such  a  peculiar  literature  as  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament  could  come  into  existence, 
be  so  widely  accepted,  and  secure  such  controlling  in- 
fluence over  so  many  companies  of  men  scattered  over 
the  entire  Roman  Empire.  For  a  determination  of  this 
question,  we  have  as  a  basis  our  general  knowledge  of 
the  weaknesses  of  human  nature  and  the  limitations  of 
the  human  mind,  which  enables  us  to  perceive  the  ex- 
treme difficulty,  if  not  impossibility,  of  producing  such  a 
literature  and  giving  it  such  influence  at  the  beginning 
of  the  second  century,  except  it  were  a  record  of  actual 
facts  and  a  revelation  of  heaven-born  truth.  The  beauty, 
the  pathos,  the  sublimity,  of  the  portraiture  of  Christ 
given  by  the  four  evangelists  is  readily  perceived  to 
surpass  all  products  of  the  merely  human  imagination ; 
for  it  is  easily  seen  that  no  subsequent  artists  have  ever 
touched  that  picture  except  to  mar  it.  So  convincing 
are  the  lineaments  of  this  portraiture,  that  it  draws 
from  unbelievers,  as  well  as  believers,  such  expressions 
as  those  of  Napoleon  : — 

"  '  I  know  men,  and  I  tell  you  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
not  a  man. 

"  '  Superficial  minds  may  see  some  resemblance  be- 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  21 

tween  Christ  and  the  founders  of  empires,  the  con- 
querors, and  the  gods  of  other  religions.  That  resem- 
blance does  not  exist.'  " 

"  *  I  see  in  Lycurgus,  Numa,  Confucius,  and  Ma- 
homet merely  legislators.  .  .  .  But  it  is  different  with 
Christ.  Everything  about  Him  astonishes  me;  His 
spirit  surprises  me,  and  His  will  confounds  me.  Be- 
tween Him  and  anything  of  this  world  there  is  no 
possible  term  of  comparison.  He  is  really  a  Being 
apart.  His  ideas  and  His  emotions,  the  truth  which 
He  announces.  His  method  of  producing  conviction, 
can  be  explained  neither  by  the  organization  of  man  nor 
by  the  nature  of  things.'  " 

"  '  His  gospel,  the  uniqueness  of  this  mysterious  Be- 
ing, His  appearance,  His  empire.  His  march  across  ages 
and  kingdoms,  all  is  to  me  a  marvel,  a  mystery  unfath- 
omable :  a  mystery  which  I  cannot  deny,  and  yet  which 
I  am  just  as  unable  to  explain.  Here  I  see  nothing  of 
man.  The  nearer  I  approach  Him  and  the  more  closely 
I  examine  Him,  the  more  everything  seems  above  me; 
everything  continues  great  with  a  greatness  that 
crushes  me.'  " 

"  '  Christ  speaks,  and  henceforth  generations  belong 
to  Him  by  bonds  more  close,  more  intimate  than  those 
of  blood,  by  a  union  more  sacred,  more  imperious  than 
any  other  union  beside.  He  kindles  the  flame  of  a  love 
which  kills  out  the  love  of  self,  and  prevails  over  every 
other  love.  Without  contradiction,  the  greatest  miracle 
of  Christ  is  the  reign  of  love.'  " 

"  '  What  an  abyss  between  my  profound  misery  and 


22  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

the  eternal  reign  of  Christ,  proclaimed,  worshiped,  be- 
loved, adored,  living  throughout  the  whole  universe.'  "  ^ 

Or  of  Rousseau,  who  exclaims: — 

"  If  the  life  and  death  of  Socrates  were  those  of  a 
sage,  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  are  those  of  a  God. 
Shall  we  suppose  the  evangelical  history  a  mere  fiction? 
Indeed,  my  friend,  it  bears  no  marks  of  fiction.  On  the 
contrary,  the  history  of  Socrates,  which  no  one  presumes 
to  doubt,  is  not  so  well  attested  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Such  a  supposition,  in  fact,  only  shifts  the  difficulty 
without  obviating  it ;  it  is  more  inconceivable  that  a 
number  of  persons  should  agree  to  write  such  a  history, 
than  that  one  should  furnish  the  subject  of  it.  The 
Jewish  authors  were  incapable  of  the  diction,  and 
strangers  to  the  morality  contained  in  the  gospel.  The 
marks  of  its  truths  are  so  striking  and  inimitable,  that 
the  inventor  would  be  a  more  astonishing  character 
than  the  hero." ^ 

The  theory  that  the  life  of  Christ  given  us  in  the 
four  Gospels  is  the  work  of  imposition,  either  on  the 
part  of  the  actors  or  of  the  historians,  is  too  incredible 
to  demand  attention  in  these  times.  Nor  does  the  the- 
ory of  delusion,  in  its  various  forms,  stand  any  better 
chance  of  passing  the  scientific  tests.  The  general  ac- 
ceptance of  the  four  Gospels  in  the  early  part  of  the 
second  century  stamps  them  as  substantially  contem- 
porary documents.  They  could  not  have  been 
received   so   generally,   and   made  the   basis  of   Chris- 


The  Witness  of  the  Neiu  Testament.  23 

tian  life  in  such  widely  separated  communities,  at 
that  time,  except  they  had  come  down  with  the  im- 
primatur of  the  preceding  generation,  which  was  con- 
temporary with  that  of  Christ.  In  so  brief  a  time  it 
is  impossible  that  there  should  have'  been  any  material 
legendary  accretions  or  mythical  growth  incorporated 
into  such  a  narrative  of  facts.  As  it  is  not  an  easy 
thing  for  an  apprentice  to  improve  upon  the  works  of 
such  masters  as  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo,  w^hich  he 
could  not  touch  but  to  reveal  the  work  of  his  own 
bungling  hand,  so  it  would  be  practically  impossible 
for  any  one  to  make  additions  to  the  inimitable  narra- 
tives of  the  Gospels  without  betraying  his  human  limi- 
tations. To  take  a  single  case :  it  would  seem  well-nigh 
impossible  to  invent  or  imagine  an  account  of  the  con- 
ception and  birth  of  Christ  so  appropriate  to  his  subse- 
quent history  as  that  which  is  found  in  the  Gospels.  It 
has  no  resemblance  to  anything  else  that  is  found  in 
literature.  As  a  record  of  actual  fact,  it  is  in  harmony 
with  everything  else  related  of  Christ.  He  is  a  very 
bold  dogmatician  who  would  assert  that  the  beauty 
and  harmony  of  this  conception  is  within  the  reach  of 
the  human  imagination. 

More  tangible  illustrations  of  the  freedom  of  the 
New  Testament  from  the  legendary  accretions  of  later 
times  may  be  found  in  the  accuracy  with  which  it  re- 


24  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

fleets  the  known  conditions  of  the  first  half  of  the  first 
century,  in  which  the  events  purport  to  have  occurred. 
The  political,  geographical,  and  sociological  conditions 
of  that  period  are  so  peculiar,  and  so  sharply  separated 
from  those  which  followed  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
that  literature  originating  in  the  last  portion  of  the 
century  could  not  have  simulated  the  conditions  of  the 
earlier  part  of  the  century  so  perfectly  as  does  the  New 
Testament. 

There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  first  three  Gos- 
pels were  written  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
nor  indeed  that  the  Fourth  Gospel  was  written  by  one 
who  studiously  clung  to  a  statement  of  facts  that  had  be- 
come firmly  fixed  in  form  before  that  event.*  The  only 
theory  left,  therefore,  for  the  origin  of  the  Gospels,  ex- 
cept that  which  assumes  their  truth  as  history,  is  that  the 
contemporaries  of  Christ  were  deluded  by  their  excited 
imaginations;  and  this,  indeed,  is  the  theory  which  is 
now  being  urgently  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the 
public.  But  the  more  one  emphasizes  the  ecstatic  state 
of  mind  which  it  is  supposed  would  follow  the  depres- 
sion caused  in  the  minds  of  his  disciples  by  the  betrayal, 
the  crucifixion,  and  the  death  of  Christ,  the  more 
improbable  does  it  become  that  such  sober-minded  nar- 
ratives should  be  the  product  of  that  ecstasy.  The 
mysterious  silence  of  the  Gospels  concerning  the  most 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  25 

of  the  period  between  the  resurrection  and  the  ascension 
is  incredible  on  any  theory  but  that  of  truth  of  the 
narratives.  Most  certainly  the  imagination  of  the 
writers  was  not  given  a  free  field  in  the  matter.  The 
general  sobriety  and  practical  wisdom  which  character- 
ized the  disciples  after  the  reputed  resurrection  and  as- 
cension of  their  Lord  are  anything  but  characteristic 
of  such  ill-regulated  excitement  as  must  have  followed 
mental  delusion. 

Viewed  from  every  point,  the  Gospels  have  all  the 
marks  of  true  history,  whose  statements  can  be  re- 
ceived without  question.  The  origin  of  Christianity 
through  any  theory  of  fraud  or  delusion  involves  the 
supposition  of  a  greater  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature 
than  does  the  supposition  of  its  origin  through  the  facts 
as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  a  more  in- 
credible supposition  that  crafty  or  deluded  men  should 
rise  to  the  capacity  of  forging  the  character  of  Jesus  and 
setting  him  in  the  position  he  occupies  in  history  than 
that  God  should  have  condescended  to  reveal  himself 
through  man  as  he  is  believed  to  have  done  by  the 
Christian  church. 

The  existence  of  such  a  firm  historical  basis  for  the 
foundation  of  Christianity  prepares  us  of  itself  to  find 
true  history  in  the  preliminary  stages  of  the  divine  plan 
of  salvation.     It  is  but  natural  to  expect  that  He  who 


26  The  Witness  of  the  Nezu  Testament. 

in  these  last  days  has  spoken  to  the  world  through  his 
Son  should  in  earlier  times  have  spoken  through  holy 
men  and  prophets,  and  have  made  in  the  history  of  his 
chosen  people  the  needful  preparation  for  the  culminat- 
ing results.  This  expectation  is  fully  realized  upon 
observing  the  esteem  in  which  the  Old  Testament  was 
held  by  Christ  and  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament. 

THE   OLD   TESTAMEXT   INDORSED    BY   THE    NEW. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  the  Penta- 
teuch was  generally  regarded  by  the  Jews  as  authentic 
history,  and  Moses  was  believed  to  be  the  responsible 
author  of  it.  In  the  words  of  Professor  Toy,  one  of 
the  most  radical  critics  of  Old  Testament  history, 
"  Nobody  at  that  time  doubted  that  Moses  wrote  the 
Pentateuch."  The  references  of  the  New  Testament 
writers,  therefore,  to  "  the  law  of  Moses,"  "  the  book 
of  Moses,"  "  the  writings  of  Moses,"  etc.,  had  a 
definite  significance.  The  only  way  of  evading  the  force 
of  the  testimony  of  these  direct  references  to  its  Mosaic 
authorship  is  either  to  challenge  the  competency  of  the 
New  Testament  writers  to  form  opinions  upon  the 
subject,  or  to  assert  that  their  language  is  accommo- 
dated to  the  usage  of  the  times,  and  so  has  no  critical 
significance. 

Both  of  these  methods  are  freely  resorted  to  by  certain 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  2^ 

classes  of  critics.  By  some  it  is  confidently  asserted  that 
the  apostles  are  not  competent  instructors  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Old  Testament.  But  of  this  view  we 
will  not  pause  to  speak  further,  except  to  lament  the 
unguarded  remarks  which  have  been  made  to  this  effect 
by  many  recent  writers  whom  we  are  glad  to  reckon 
both  as  eminent  scholars  and  as  serious  inquirers  after 
tile  truth.  Whether  the  force  of  the  testimony  of 
Christ  and  the  apostles  to  the  Mosaic  authorship  of 
•the  Pentateuch  can  be  evaded  by  the  theory  of  accom- 
modation must  be  determined  by  examining  the  testi- 
mony itself. 

In  view  both  of  the  general  belief  of  his  times 
respecting  the  Pentateuch  and  of  its  own  claims  (of 
which  we  shall  presently  speak),  it  would  seem  that 
nobody  can  reasonably  deny  that  there  is  convincing 
force  in  those  passages  which  refer  to  the  offering  that 
"Moses  commanded"  (Matt.  viii.  4)  ;  to  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  who  sit  "  on  Moses'  seat  "  (Matt,  xxiii. 
2)  ;  to  one  of  the  commandments  w^hich  "  Moses  said  " 
(Mark  vii.  10)  ;  to  Moses  and  the  prophets  "  as  wit- 
nesses of  such  weight  that  one  rising  from  the  dead 
would  not  be  superior  to  them  "  (Luke  xvi.  29,  31)  ; 
to  circumcision  as  a  law  which  "  Moses  had  given  " 
(John  vii.  22,  23)  ;  and  to  divorce  as  permitted  by  a 
precept  which  "  Moses  wrote  "   (Mark  x.  2-5). 


28  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

In  view  of  the  usage  of  language  in  Christ's  time, 
it  seems,  also,  much  like  an  unworthy  subterfuge  to  say 
that,  when  (as  in  Mark  xii.  19,  26;  Matt.  xxii.  23- 
32;  Luke  XX.  27-38)  Jesus  refers  to  a  passage  which 
he  says  they  have  "  read  in  the  book  of  Moses,  in  the 
place  concerning  the  bush,"  he  meant  not  a  book  writ- 
ten by  Moses,  but  a  book  written  about  Moses.  This 
impression  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that,  in  the  im- 
mediate connection,  the  Sadducees,  whom  Christ  was 
addressing,  introduced  one  of  their  questions  by  saying, 
"  Master,  Moses  wrote  unto  us,"  etc.  Finally,  in  John 
V.  45-47,  Christ  says  expressly,  "  Moses  wrote  of  me," 
and  refers  to  the  "  writings  of  Moses,"  which,  if  they 
understood  and  believed,  would  rebuke  their  unbelief 
concerning  him.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  question 
that  in  this  last  passage  Christ  bears  unequivocal  testi- 
mony to  the  fact  that  there  were  well-known  writings 
of  Moses,  and  that  an  appeal  to  them  was  an  appeal  to 
Moses.  Ordinarily  this  would  be  enough  to  determine 
what  writings  were  meant. 

But  in  the  mode  of  his  references  Christ  had  made 
assurance  doubly  sure.  For  what  are  the  writings  of 
Moses  which  the  Jews  regarded  as  prophetic  of  Christ? 
They  are  those  which  contain  such  passages  as  the  ones 
which  speak  of  the  seed  of  the  woman  as  destined  to 
bruise  the  serpent's  head  (Gen.  iii.  15)  ;  of  the  seed  of 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  29 

Abraham,  by  which  all  nations  of  the  earth  were  to 
be  blessed  (Gen.  xil.)  ;  of  the  Shiloh  unto  whom  shall 
be  the  gathering  of  the  people  (Gen.  xlix.  10)  ;  of  the 
Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  the  Scepter  that  shall  rise  out  of 
Israel  (Num.  xxiv.  17)  ;  of  the  great  Prophet  whom 
God  will  raise  up,  and  unto  whom  the  Jews  should 
hearken  (Deut.  xviii.  18)  ;  and,  finally,  of  the  serpent 
in  the  wilderness,  which  Christ  himself  interpreted  as 
pointing  to  himself  (Num.  xxi.  9;  John  iii.  14).  Now 
these  are  from  all  the  parts  of  the  Pentateuch  into 
which  the  critics  have  arbitrarily  divided  it. 

Did  space  permit,  much  might  be  added  from  the 
writings  of  the  apostles,  where  both  their  direct  refer- 
ences and  their  numerous  lines  of  argument  are  based 
on  the  assumption  that  the  statements  in  the  Pentateuch 
concerning  the  sacrifices,  the  tabernacle,  the  priests,  and 
the  general  history  of  the  wanderings  in  the  wilderness 
are  true.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  in  all  this 
discussion  that  it  is  the  truth  with  which  we  have  most 
concern.  But  it  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that,  if  the  his- 
tory contained  in  the  Pentateuch  is  true,  it  is  not  much 
matter  when  it  was  written,  since  the  truthfulness  of 
the  Pentateuch  implies  that  it  is  a  product  of  the  Mo- 
saic age.  For  certainly,  if,  as  a  Jewish  writer  has  re- 
cently observed,  the  book  was  written  near  enough  the 
time  of  Moses  to  be  authentic  history,  and  yet  not  by 


30  The  Witness  of  the  Neiu  Testament. 

Moses,  then  it  is  a  forgery  which  was  fraudently  passed 
as  a  Mosaic  production ;  while  if,  as  so  many  critics  now 
maintain,  it  originated  by  the  embellishment  of  old 
traditions  several  hundred  years  after  Moses,  then  its 
history  is  of  no  account,  and  it  is  both  false  and  ficti- 
tious. 

We  need  not  pause  to  dispute  the  position  held  by 
some,  that  the  historical  parts  of  the  Pentateuch  are, 
in  the  main,  true,  although  they  were  preserved  only 
through  oral  tradition  for  many  centuries.  For  how- 
ever much  we  may  exaggerate  the  powers  of  memory 
in  primitive  man,  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  it 
could  transmit  w^ith  accuracy  prosaic  facts  through  an 
indefinite  number  of  generations.  Besides,  the  super- 
abundant evidence  we  now  have  of  the  prevalence  of 
writing  on  tablets  of  clay  (the  most  enduring  of  all 
material)  for  thousands  of  years  before  the  time  of 
Moses,  and  preeminently  among  the  nations  with  whom 
Israel  came  in  contact,  renders  it  altogether  probable 
that  it  was  used  by  the  Israelites.  It  would  have  been 
very  strange  if  they  alone  should  have  trusted  their 
history  to  memory,  when  they  could  so  easily  have  pre- 
served it  on  clay  tablets.^ 

On  turning  now  to  the  books  which  Christ's  auditors 
understood  him  to  refer  to  when  he  spoke  of  the  "  law 
of  Moses  "  and  of  "  the  writings  of  Moses,"  etc.,  we 


The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament.  31 

find  that  almost  every  chapter  of  Exodus,  Leviticus, 
and  Numbers  is  said  to  contain  things  which  the  "  Lord 
spake  unto  Moses,"  or  which  "  Moses  did  according  to 
all  that  the  Lord  had  commanded  him  " ;  and  that  in 
Ex.  xxiv.  4  it  is  said  that  "  Moses  ivrote  all  the  words 
of  the  Lord,"  referring  at  least  to  the  three  or  four  pre- 
ceding chapters;  and  in  Ex.  xvii.  14  that  Moses  was 
commanded  to  "  write  "  certain  things  for  a  memorial 
in  a  book;  and  that,  again,  in  xxxiv.  27,  Moses  was 
commanded  to  "  write  "  certain  other  things ;  while  in 
Deuteronomy  we  find  that  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the 
matter  professes  to  proceed  directly  from  the  mouth  of 
Moses;  and  in  xxxi.  9  it  is  said  that  "  Moses  wrote  this 
law,  and  delivered  it  unto  the  priests,"  and  in  verse  10 
that  he  left  commandment  that  it  should  be  read  every 
seven  years  in  the  ears  of  all  the  people  and,  finally, 
in  verses  24-26,  we  are  told  that  when  "  Moses  had 
made  an  end  of  writing  the  words  of  this  law  in  a 
book,"  he  said  to  the  Levites,  "  Take  this  book  of  the 
law,  and  put  it  by  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  Jehovah  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there  for  a  wit- 
ness against  thee." 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  testimony  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch. 
Granting  that  this  may  possibly  be  rebutted  or  set  aside, 
still  it  remains  true  that  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with 


32  The  Witness  of  the  New  Testament. 

heavy  weight  upon  those  who  would  explain  it  away, 
and  we  may  properly  ask  of  them  to  produce  the  very 
best  of  evidence,  and,  as  their  evidence  must  be  all  cir- 
cumstantial, we  can  demand  of  them  that  it  be  that 
which  is  unequivocal,  and  which  does  not  yield  as 
ready  explanation  in  accordance  with  the  strong  direct 
testimony  adduced,  as  in  accordance  with  the  theory 
that  discredits  the  direct  testimony.  We  have  a  right 
in  all  equivocal  cases  to  claim  for  the  well-accredited 
witness  the  benefit  of  whatever  doubt  may  exist.  To 
do  otherwise  is  to  fly  in  the  face  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  evidence,  and  to  abandon  all  just  claims  to 
scientific  procedure. 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  33 


CHAPTER  IL 
MIDDLE  AND  LATER  JEWISH  HISTORY. 

There  are  different  ways  of  writing  history.  In-, 
deed,  history  may  properly  include  every  variety  of 
literature,  and  has  a  right  to  the  use  of  all  forms  of 
speech  and  all  figures  of  rhetoric.  Historical  language, 
like  every  other  kind,  can  claim  the  benefit  of  fair 
interpretation.  The  late  Professor  Stubbs  insisted  that 
no  historian  could  tell  the  truth  when  writing  in  the 
style  of  Macaulay.  The  difSculty  was  that  so  pro- 
saic a  writer  as  Professor  Stubbs  did  not  know  how  to 
interpret  that  more  rhetorical  style  which  is  designed 
to  make  an  adequate  popular  impression. 

Even  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  can  be  truthfully  de- 
scribed in  such  opposite  ways  that  they  seem  to  be 
contradictory.  A  tornado  or  a  lightning  stroke  is  cor- 
rectly described,  either  as  the  result  of  the  operation  of 
natural  forces  which  can  be  scientifically  investigated, 
or  as  the  result  of  a  divine  purpose  of  Him  "  who 
maketh  his  angels  winds,  and  his  ministers  a  flame  of 
fire."  This  is  but  the  statement  of  a  well-known  legal 
principle,  that  a  person  is  properly  said  to  do  whatever 
he  accomplishes  through  his  agent.     In  a  military  cam- 


34  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

paign,  glory  is  equally  distributed  between  the  com- 
mander-in-chief and  th-e  army  in  all  its  organizations. 
And  so,  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  world,  no  amount  of 
emphasis  upon  the  secondary  causes  need  obscure  the 
agency  of  the  divine  mind  which  controls  and  orders 
them. 

Did  we  not  have  so  many  lamentable  illustrations  of 
the  fact,  it  would  seem  impossible  that  learned  men 
of  great  discernment  in  other  respects  should  be  misled 
by  the  anthropomorphic  elements  in  Old  Testament 
history.  History  can  be  told  in  poetry  as  well  as  in 
prose.  Much  of  Old  Testament  history,  indeed,  is 
incorporated  into  the  hj'mns  we  sing.  Ordinarily  the 
common  sense  of  mankind  is  better  able  to  judge  the 
poetical  garb,  and  interpret  the  rhetorical  figures,  than 
is  the  learning  of  critics  whose  studies  have  limited 
them  to  a  narrow  line  of  investigation. 

In  Milton's  version  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Thirty-sixth  Psalm,  it  would  be  childish  to  impute  to 
him  either  scientific  or  historic  error,  by  reason  of  the 
various  figures  of  speech  through  which,  with  the 
psalmist,  he  traces  all  of  the  phenomena  of  the  history 
of  the  world  directly  to  the  agency  of  God.  We  can 
permit  him  to  sing,  and  indeed,  without  compromising 
ourselves,  sing  with  him,  those  noble  phrases  ascribing 
praise  to  the  Lord, — 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  35 

"  [Who]  caus'd  the  golden-tressed  sun, 
All  the  day  long  his  course  to  run  ; 

The  horned  moon  to  shine  by  night, 
Amongst  her  spangled  sisters  bright." 

"His  chosen  race  he  did  bless, 
In  the  wasteful  wilderness. 

In  bloody  battle,  he  brought  down 
Kings  of  prowess  and  renown. 

He  foil'd  bold  Seon  and  his  host 
That  rul'd  the  Amorrean  coast; 

And  large-limbed  Og  he  did  subdue, 
With  all  his  overhardy  crew." 

"  All  living  creatures  he  doth  feed. 
And  wuth  full  hand  supplies  their  need." 

In  the  words  of  the  devout  Keil,  when  commenting 
on  Joshua  x.  12-14, — 

[When]  Isaiah  prayed  to  the  Lord  in  the  name  of 
his  people,  '  O  that  thou  wouldest  rend  the  heavens 
and  come  down,  that  the  mountains  might  flow  down  at 
thy  presence,'  etc.  (Isa.  Ixiii.  ig)  ;  or  when  David  sings, 
'  In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  ...  he  bowed 
the  heavens  also  and  came  down,  ...  he  sent  from 
above  and  took  me,  he  drew  me  out  of  many  waters  ' 
(Ps.  xviii.  7-17)  ;  who  is  there  who  ever  thinks  of 
understanding  their  words  literally,  as  denoting  an 
actual  rending  of  the  heavens,  or  a  desire  that  God 


36  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

would  actually  descend  from  heaven  and  stretch  out 
his  hand  to  draw  David  out  of  the  water?  Undoubt- 
edly the  idea  of  a  fearful  storm  accompanied  by  earth- 
quake has  furnished  materials  for  the  imagery  of  the 
eighteenth  Psalm ;  but  it  is  as  clear  as  day  that  the 
striking  figures,  which  it  contains,  are  not  fully  ex- 
plained by  referring  them  to  an  earthquake  and  storm." 

In  all  these  figures  of  speech  there  are  underlying 
facts  which,  in  some  of  their  aspects,  are  correctly 
stated.  The  historian  who  fails  to  recognize  the  hand 
of  God  underneath  the  secondary  agencies  of  history 
sees  but  a  part  of  the  truth,  and  that  the  smaller  and 
more  unimportant  part.  We  are  familiar  enough  in 
these  days  with  the  statement  that  the  Old  Testament 
was  written  for  a  purpose,  and  that  that  purpose  was 
religious.  With  this  principle  we  have  no  reason  to 
quarrel.  But  from  many  of  the  applications  of  it  we 
have  much  reason  for  dissent.  To  the  assumption,  more 
or  less  clearly  made,  that  literature  written  for  a  pur- 
pose can  convey  no  substantial  nucleus  of  facts,  we  do 
object  in  the  most  emphatic  manner.  At  the  same  time 
it  must  be  affirmed  that  the  discernment  of  the  general 
purpose  of  a  writer  is  of  great  assistance  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  his  language.  To  make  the  proper  impres- 
sion, certain  phases  of  the  truth  must  be  emphasized, 
or,   what  is   the  same  thing,   thrown   into   apparently 


Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History.  37 

disproportionate  prominence,  to  the  neglect  of  other 
phases,  which  are  equally  true,  but  for  the  occasion  not 
equally  important. 

Both  the  difficulty  and  the  importance  of  giving 
proper  emphasis,  through  language,  to  the  main  object 
which  it  is  desirable  to  accomplish,  are  well  illustrated 
in  the  art  of  cartography.  Our  government  map- 
makers  are  busily  engaged  in  recording,  in  visible  form, 
the  results  of  the  geodetic  survej's.  After  going  over 
the  field  with  their  accurate  triangulations,  to  deter- 
mine the  contours  of  the  surface  of  an  area,  the  sur- 
veyors present  their  notes  to  the  cartographer.  To  their 
surprise,  the  surveyors  often  find  that  the  map-maker 
habitually  exaggerates  certain  features  in  the  results  of 
the  survej^  The  contour  lines  are  indeed  there,  but 
they  occupy  a  breadth  upon  the  map  which  is  many 
times  larger  than,  in  strict  proportion,  it  should  be.  All 
the  gorges  and  valleys  and  mountain  ranges  are  de- 
lineated upon  the  map  wider  than  they  really  are. 

When  the  cartographer  is  confronted  with  this  fact, 
he  replies,  "  Why,  my  dear  sir,  if  I  should  endeavor 
to  represent  the  vertical  and  the  horizontal  lines  of 
measurement  in  their  strict  proportions,  you  could  not 
see  the  contours  at  all.  You  would  be  more  misled  by 
an  attempt  to  draw  things  as  they  actually  are,  than 
}'0u  are  by  the  exaggeration,  which  enables  you  to  really 


38  Aliddle  and  Later  Jeivis/i  History. 

see  something,  and  trusts  your  imagination  to  correct 
the  apparent  error  by  a  sober  second  thought," 

And  so  it  is  in  all  attempts  at  delineating  natural 
scenery  through  the  art  of  drawing  or  painting.  A 
photograph  of  a  distant  mountain,  while  giving  the 
exact  truth,  deceives  one  as  to  the  real  impressiveness 
of  the  scene.  The  skillful  draughtsman  makes  a 
proper  impression  by  omitting  innumerable  details,  and 
throwing  into  relief  the  main  object  under  considera- 
tion. The  classic  painters  of  the  Western  world  give 
perspective  to  natural  scenery  by  correctly  representing 
the  apparent  diminution  of  distant  objects  in  their  im- 
pression upon  the  eye,  owing  to  the  diminished  angle 
of  vision,  and  by  deepening  the  color,  which,  in  nature, 
is  the  result  of  the  greater  depth  of  atmosphere  through 
which  distant  objects  are  seen.  The  Japanese,  on  the 
other  hand,  very  effectively  and  skillfully  give  perspec- 
tive to  their  pictures  by  enlargement  of  the  distant 
mountain  scenes,  which  is  the  exact  opposite  of  the  im- 
pression made  upon  the  senses.  Their  excuse  for  this  is 
that  they  paint  as  they  feel,  and  not  as  they  see.  And 
why  not?  The  painter,  like  the  poet,  has  his  appro- 
priate license.  We  do  not  charge  Raphael  with  either 
ignorance  or  falsity  when  he  paints  eleven  sturdy  apos- 
tles fishing  from  a  boat  which  is  scarcely  larger  than 
a  child's  toy.     It  was  not  his  purpose,  in  the  painting, 


Middle  and  Later  Jeivisli  History.  39 

to  represent  all  he  knew  about  the  boat ;  and  so  that 
could  be  represented  conventionally,  as  we  say,  and  no- 
body but  an  ignoramus  either  complains  of  it  or  mis- 
understands it.  Indeed,  the  highest  art  of  pictorial 
representation  is  found,  not  in  those  pictures  which 
represent  in  minutest  detail  every  accessory  of  the  scene, 
but  in  those  which  concentrate  attention  upon  the  main 
point,  and  leave  the  rest  in  the  comparatively  indistinct 
background. 

These  principles  are  especially  applicable  to  those 
condensed  historical  statements  and  descriptions  of 
natural  phenomena  which  characterize  the  early  por- 
tions of  the  Bible.  The  obvious  purpose,  for  example, 
of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  was  to  impart  not 
scientific  but  religious  truth,  and  to  do  this  in  such 
concise  and  striking  form  that  it  could  be  easily  ap- 
propriated and  retained  by  men  of  all  classes  and  ages, 
of  all  stages  of  culture.  It  is  one  of  the  most  astonish- 
ing literary  phenomena  in  all  the  world  that  this  end 
has  been  accomplished  without  violence  to  the  principles 
of  later  scientific  discovery. 

Again,  the  object  of  the  brief  history  of  the  human 
race  from  the  creation  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  covering 
a  period  of  unknown  thousands  of  years,  was  likewise 
religious,  serving  to  ^ive  us  a  brief  conspectus  of  events 
which  should  so  unfold  the  depths  of  human  nature, 


40  Middle  and  Later-  Jewish  History. 

and  the  general  plan  of  God's  dealings  with  it,  as  to 
prepare  us  properly  to  appreciate  the  mere  definite  his- 
tory of  redemption  which  begins  with  Abraham  and 
ends  with  Christ.  Professor  William  Henry  Green  has 
done  a  service  for  biblical  criticism  which  is  as  yet  by 
no  means  properlj'  recognized,  in  showing  that,  in  ac- 
cordance w^ith  the  usages  of  Hebrew  literature,  and 
with  the  evident  special  purpose  of  its  introductory 
portions,  the  genealogical  tables  in  the  fifth  and  tenth 
chapters  of  Genesis  were  not  designed  to  teach,  and  do 
not  teach,  a  definite  chronology:  they  serve  simply  to 
throw  emphasis  upon  the  direct  line  of  descent,  without 
shedding  any  definite  light  upon  the  length  of  that 
1 


me 


1 


All  history  is  fragmentary.  The  story  of  no  event  is 
ever  fully  told.  The  omission  of  details  in  one  parallel 
account  which  are  not  found  in  another  is  not  necessar- 
ily significant.  The  statement  of  a  biblical  historian 
need  not  be  regarded  with  incredulity  simply  because  it 
stands  alone.  It  may  be  true  though  not  distinctly  con- 
firmed by  other  witnesses.  To  assume,  as  many  do, 
that  biblical  statements  are  to  be  disregarded  except 
when  directly  supported  by  other  documents  is  a  most 
unscientific  procedure. 

With  these  preliminary  cautions,  we  wuU  now,  pre- 
paratory to  the   further  discussion  of  the  earlier  por- 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  41 

tions,  which  will  form  the  principal  subject  of  our 
stud}^,  briefly  consider  some  of  the  more  striking  facts 
which  give  an  air  of  reality  to  the  later  part  of  Bible 
history. 

CONNECTING    LINKS    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

To  determine  the  character  of  the  earlier  historical 
documents  of  the  Bible,  and  to  prepare  our  minds  for 
their  proper  appreciation  and  interpretation,  we  shall 
find  it  helpful  to  trace  backward  the  history  of  Israel 
through  its  later  and  middle  portions,  where  we  have 
fuller  opportunities  to  compare  the  record  with  con- 
temporary documents ;  thus  giving  us  a  wider  basis 
for  the  formation  of  general  conclusions  concerning  its 
trustworthiness.  For,  w^hatever  may  be  said  about  the 
fragmentary  character  of  the  documents  preserved  in 
the  Old  Testament,  they  have  been  arranged,  by  no 
ordinary  skill,  to  form  a  unity  that  is  remarkable.  The 
sagacious  ability  with  which  the  final  editors  of  the 
Old  Testament  have  selected  their  material,  and  pre- 
served only  such  as  is  either  demonstrably  in  accordance 
with  the  facts  as  known  from  other  sources,  or  such  as 
could  readily  be  adjusted  to  such  facts  without  doing 
violence  to  their  necessary  implications,  gives  to  them 
a  high  place  as  historical  authorities,  and  leads  us,  un- 
less we  have  evidence  to  the  contrary,  to  accept  as 
trustworthy  what   they   have   transmitted    to    us.      In 


42  Aliddle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

other  words,  our  attitude  of  mind  should  be  one  of 
confidence,  rather  than  of  agnosticism  or  distrust.  The 
burden  of  proof  falls  with  great  weight  upon  those 
who  challenge  documents  so  authentic  as  these  of  the 
Old  Testament  seem  to  be.- 

In  moving,  then,  backwards,  along  the  line  of  Old 
Testament  records,  towards  the  origin  of  the  Israelitish 
nation,  and  towards  the  original  fountain  of  hope  both 
for  Israel  and  the  world,  it  will  be  our  aim  to  show  that 
it  is  not  easy  to  escape  the  conviction  that  we  are  contin- 
ually in  the  realm  of  genuine  history,  surrounded  by 
real  persons,  and  dealing  with  real  sociological  and 
political  developments.  The  story  of  the  return  of  the 
Jews  to  Palestine  after  their  long  captivity  in  Baby- 
lonia, the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  and  the  separation 
between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  so  accords  with 
the  great  historical  movements  of  that  time  and  place 
as  they  are  made  known  through  other  and  independent 
channels  of  information,  that  its  truthfulness  cannot 
easily  be  doubted.  The  existence  of  the  little  remnant 
of  Samaritans  at  Nablus,  with  their  Pentateuch  and 
their  devotion  to  their  worshiping-place  upon  Mount 
Gerizim,  is  a  fact  meeting  our  eyes  to-day  which  has 
no  explanation,  except  in  connection  with  some  such 
occurrences  as  are  narrated  in  the  concluding  historical 
books  of  the  Old  Testament;  while  the  return  of  a 


Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History.  43 

selected  remnant  of  Jewish  captives  accords  so  perfectly 
with  the  political  changes  now  known  to  have  taken 
place  in  Babylonia  at  that  time,  that  one  can  but  find 
it  difficult  to  discredit  the  account  or  believe  it  to  be 
anything  but  genuine  history. 

HISTORICAL   SETTING   OF   THE   BOOK  OF  DANIEL. 

According  to  all  contemporary  accounts,  there  was 
in  Babj'lon  a  change  of  policy  wnth  the  change  of  dy- 
nasties ushered  in  by  Cyrus.  The  new  policy  was  one 
of  religious  toleration.  We  need  not,  indeed,  go  so 
far  as  to  suppose  that  Cyrus  was  a  monotheist  or  a 
follower  of  Zoroaster.  He  was  likely  a  polytheist,  and 
as  such  recognized  the  Jews,  and  granted  to  them  their 
privileges  of  belief.  Upon  the  clay  cylinder  of  Cyrus 
describing  the  capture  of  Babylon,  it  is  definitely  stated 
that  it  is  his  policy  to  honor  and  protect  all  the  gods 
of  the  various  peoples  that  come  under  his  rule,  and  to 
restore  exiles  to  their  original  dwelling-places.  "All 
of  their  peoples  "  (that  is,  of  the  captive  and  dethroned 
deities),  he  says,  "  I  gathered  together  and  restored  to 
their  own  dwelling-places."  Likewise  it  fell  in  with 
the  plans  of  Cyrus,  as  a  far-seeing  statesman,  to  restore 
Palestine  to  its  condition  of  original  prosperity,  and  to 
establish  in  it  a  people  having  such  reason  to  be  loyal 
to   himself   that   he   might   trust   them   as   a   bulwark 


44  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History. 

against  the  encroachments  of  Egypt,  and  as  allies  in 
the  contemplated  extension  of  his  dominion  over  the 
valley  of  the  Nile.^ 

This  general  conformity  of  the  biblical  account  to 
the  political  conditions  of  Babylonia  at  that  time, 
brought  to  light  by  recent  discoveries,  Is  evidence  strong 
enough  to  dispose  of  almost  any  amount  of  petty  ob- 
jections arising  from  minute  apparent  discrepancies  in 
chronology,  or  differences  in  names  applied. to  the  same 
person;  for  these  objections  might  all  easily  disappear 
upon  a  complete  restoration  of  the  history. 

In  the  book  of  Daniel,  likewise,  we  find  ourselves 
moving,  so  far  as  we  can  verify  the  statements,  in  a 
most  remarkable  environment  of  historical  reality.  The 
scenes  w^hich  are  brought  before  us  are  perfectly  in 
accord  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  and 
with  the  characteristics  of  the  dynasties  to  which  they 
relate.  In  this  respect  they  bear  the  marks  of  a  con- 
temporary document.  So  great  were  the  changes  which 
took  place  between  the  earlier  parts  of  Daniel's  career 
and  Its  closing  scenes,  that  we  may  pronounce  it  a 
literary  Impossibility  for  fiction  of  any  sort  to  have  so 
perfectly  simulated  the  facts  of  the  time  as  does  the 
historical  part  of  the  book  of  Daniel.  The  objections 
which  are  made  to  its  historical  character  are  almost 
wholly  based  upon  repugnance  to  the  admission  of  mir- 


Middle  and  Later  Jezvish  History.  45 

acles  into  the  circle  of  our  beliefs,  or  to  an  undue 
magnifying  of  small  apparent  discrepancies  which  can 
be  easily  explained  away.  As  to  the  miraculous  events, 
they  are  not  of  a  character  to  have  been  noticed  by  the 
national  historians  of  Babylonia;  and  whether  they  are 
too  improbable  to  be  believed  w:ill  depend  entirely  upon 
the  importance  of  the  religious  crisis  which  had  then 
come  to  the  Lord's  chosen  people.  We  should  therefore 
have  to  discuss  that  question  upon  general  principles, 
which  we  cannot  well  delay  to  do  here. 

Limiting  ourselves  to  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
apparently  improbable  statements,  we  note  that  the  ac- 
count of  Nebuchadnezzar's  abasement  given  in  the  book 
of  Daniel  proves,  in  the  light  of  modern  medical  sci- 
ence, to  be  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  probabilities 
connected  with  a  certain  form  of  mental  disorder.  As 
is  shown  in  a  learned  article  by  Dr.  Merrins,*  it  was 
a  case  of  melancholia,  such  as  is  quite  likely  to  affect 
a  man  of  his  character;  for  this  disease,  like  death,  loves 
a  shining  mark.  As  appears  both  from  Scripture  and 
monumental  records,  Nebuchadnezzar  was  a  man  of 
immense  intellectual  power  and  of  marked  religious  de- 
votion. But  his  successes,  both  in  foreign  conquests  and 
in  the  development  of  all  the  interests  of  Babylonia, 
coupled  with  his  autocratic  power,  appear  to  have  made 
of  him  a  megalomaniac.    At  the  zenith  of  his  power  he 


46  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History. 

frequently  gave  way  to  terrible  outbursts  of  passion,  as 
in  his  treatment  of  the  wise  men  of  Babylon  who  were 
unable  to  interpret  his  dream,  and  in  his  consigning 
Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego  to  the  fiery  furnace; 
while  his  growing  spiritual  pride  exhibits  itself  in  set- 
ting up  an  enormous  golden  image  (probably  of  him- 
self) on  the  plain  of  Dura,  and  commanding  every  one 
to  worship  it.  The  climax  of  his  spiritual  pride 
appeared  in  his  exalting  himself  against  the  Most 
High,  and  openly  expressing  the  conviction  that  "  all 
this  greatness  and  glory  had  been  won  by  the  strength 
of  his  own  right  arm."  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon, 
which  I  have  built  for  the  royal  dwelling-place,  by  the 
might  of  my  power  and  for  the  glory  of  my  majesty?" 
As  is  natural  in  such  cases,  it  was  from  the  summit  of 
self-exaltation  that  he  plunged  into  the  depths  of  de- 
spair. The  results  which  followed  are  by  no  means 
uncommon.  During  these  periods  of  depression,  the 
victim  of  melancholia  frequently  withdraws  himself 
from  the  world  until  "  at  last  he  sinks  into  a  state  of 
stolid  stupor,  is  wholly  absorbed  in  his  mental  agony, 
is  confused  as  to  his  personal  identity,  neglects  to  eat, 
and  is  careless  and  dirty  in  his  appearance  and  habits." 
His  eating  grass  and  suffering  the  hair  and  nails  to 
grow  give  a  vivid  impression  of  the  depth  to  which  his 
melancholia  had  driven  him. 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  47 

Also,  according  to  Dr.  Merrins: — 

"  As  to  restoration  to  sanity,  the  prognosis  in  cases 
of  melancholia  is  favorable,  much  more  so  than  in  any 
other  form  of  insanity.  A  majority  of  the  patients  re- 
cover, even  at  an  advanced  age  and  after  years  of  the 
most  intense  mental  disorder.  And  recovery  is  often 
so  very  complete,  that  the  highest  and  most  active  brain 
work  is  performed;  and  so  permanent,  that  a  relapse 
never  occurs  during  a  long  subsequent  life.  In  some 
cases  the  recovery  is  gradual ;  in  others  the  malady  dis- 
appears suddenly  and  mysteriouslj'-.  Of  one  patient  it 
is  recorded  that,  after  standing  like  a  veritable  statue 
of  woe  for  fifteen  months,  neither  speaking,  nor  eating, 
nor  allowing  anything  to  be  done  for  him,  he  suddenly 
became  mentally  alert,  conversed  freely,  and  thereafter 
remained  quite  well  for  over  twelve  years.  Another 
was  in  an  insane  asylum  for  thirty-four  years.  For 
fifteen  years  he  sat  with  his  head  bent  upon  his  chest, 
apparently  regardless  of  everything  about  him.  One 
evening,  while  sitting  in  the  billiard-room  without  tak- 
ing any  interest,  he  suddenly  began  to  look  about  him  ; 
a  few  daj^s  after  he  was  cheerful,  in  fact  almost  exu- 
berant, and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  completely 
cured." 

"  Neither  is  the  king's  remembrance  of  the  circum- 
stances of  his  degradation  and  of  the  causes  which  led 
to  it  very  remarkable.  Patients  on  recovery  are  often 
able  to  tell  what  was  their  mental  state  immediately 
prior  to  their  madness,  and  some  are  able  to  describe  the 
whole  course  of  their  disease  with  its  various  delusions. 


48  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History, 

Nebuchadnezzar  knew  his  reason  had  been  dethroned, 
and  why  the  judgment  came  upon  him,  and  after  his 
recovery  he  was  a  better  man.  As  in  the  case  of  King 
Lear  of  the  dramatist,  the  madness  has  been  purga- 
torial." 

It  is  hardly  possible  that  such  a  description  of  the 
career  of  this  great  monarch  as  we  find  in  the  book  of 
Daniel  should  have  been  a  legendary  accretion  by 
which  the  real  facts  are  embellished.  The  description 
accords  so  well  with  the  natural  development  of  the 
disease  that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  it  to  be  anything  but 
a  simple  record  of  well-known  facts. ^ 

Two  of  the  apparent  historical  discrepancies  in  the 
book  of  Daniel  have  had  so  much  light  shed  upon  them 
by  recent  discoveries,  that  they  have  come  to  be  an 
argument  for  the  credibility  of  the  book,  rather  than 
against  it.  , 

In  the  book  'of  Daniel,  Belshazzar  is  said  to  be 
the  king,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  is  repeatedly  referred  to' 
as  his  father;  whereas,  according  to  the  monuments, 
Nabonidus  was  king.  But  we  find  upon  the  monu- 
ments numerous  inscriptions  of  Nabonidus  in  which 
Bel-shar-uzur  is  referred  to  as  his  eldest  son,  his  off- 
spring, who  was  associated  with  him  in  various 
transactions,  and  frequently  put  forth  as  his  representa- 
tive wherever  the  king  himself  was  absent. 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  49 

But  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that,  as  prince 
regent,  he  would  be  called  icing  for  an  indefinite  period 
before  his  father's  death.  For,  thus  Jehoram  was  ap- 
pointed by  his  father  Jehoshaphat  king  of  Judah  seven 
years  before  his  father's  death  (2  Kings  i.  17  and  viii. 
16)  ;  while  Jotham  was  in  similar  manner  made  king  of 
Judah  before  his  father  Uzziah  had  died  of  leprosy, 
though  Uzziah  is  still  called  king  in  some  of  the  ref- 
erences to  him.  It  is  thus,  that,  in  a  loose  way,  Neb- 
uchadnezzar may  have  been  called  the  father  of 
Belshazzar,  though  he  may  have  been  his  grandfather, 
or  only  his  predecessor  on  the  throne.  It  is  significant 
that,  in  the  descriptions  on  the  monuments  of  Shal- 
maneser  II.,  Jehu,  the  extirpator  of  the  house  of  Omri, 
is  called  the  son  of  Omri.  From  this  we  learn,  or 
should  learn,  that,  according  to  Oriental  usage,  the 
phrases  describing  Belshazzar's  relations  to  Nebuchad- 
nezzar need  signify  no  more  than  that  he  was  a  suc- 
cessor. 

It  should  be  noted,  also,  that  nothing  is  said  in  the 
book  of  Daniel  about  the  place  of  Belshazzar's  feast. 
It  probably  was  at  Babylon,  but  it  may  not  have  been. 
Nor  is  anything  said  about  the  manner  in  which  Baby- 
lon was  captured.  The  doubtful  statements  upon  these 
points  are  those  which  were  made  by  the  Greek  histor- 
ians.    The   simple   statement   that   Darius   the    Mede 


50  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

received  the  kingdom  must  for  the  present  be  accepted 
upon  the  unconfirmed  authority  of  the  sacred  historian. 
That  it  is  not  historically  true  has  by  no  means  been 
proved,  and  it  is  incapable  of  proof  without  our  know- 
ing very  much  more  about  the  events  of  the  period 
than  we  now  know  from  outside  sources. 

The  persistent  efforts  made  bj^  many  to  fix  upon  the 
book  of  Daniel  a  serious  historical  error  in  saying  that 
after  the  death  of  Belshazzar  "  Darius  the  Median 
took  the  kingdom  "  (Dan.  v.  31),  all  proceed  upon  the 
supposition  that  biblical  statements  not  positively  con- 
firmed by  outside  evidence  are  to  be  regarded  as  dis- 
proved. But,  upon  examination,  the  negative  evidence 
in  this  particular  case  is  very  far  from  conclusive.  For, 
the  time  which  elapsed  between  the  accession  and  the 
installation  of  Cambj^ses  as  king  of  Babylon  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  monuments,  but  one  year.  If  Darius  the 
Mede  was  in  power  for  that  time  (and  the  Bible  men- 
tions but  one  year),  it  is  not  strange  that  no  record  of 
it  has  yet  been  found  among  the  inscriptions,  since,  as 
Professor  Robert  Dick  Wilson  has  noted,  "  out  of  the 
ten  years  of  the  contemporaneous  reigns  of  Cyrus  and 
Cambyses  only  three  tablets  containing  the  names  and 
titles  of  both  have  been  found, — one  from  the  first  year 
(so  called)  of  Cyrus,  and  two  from  the  first  year  (so 
called)  of  Cambyses.    How  could  we  expect  to  find  one 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  51 

from  the  four-months'  reign  of  Belshazzar  and  Darius 
the  Mede?" 

Furthermore,  as,  according  to  the  Annals  of  Na- 
bonidus,  Gobryas  was  governor  of  Babylon  on  the 
third  of  the  eighth  month,  and  Cambyses  on  the  fourth 
of  Nisan  in  the  following  year,  it  is  plausibly  main- 
tained by  Pinches,  and  other  scholars  of  highest  note, 
that  Darius  the  Mede  of  the  Bible  was  probably  the 
same  as  Gobryas  of  the  monuments.  With  present  light 
it  is  certainly  impossible  to  prove  the  contrary.  Still 
further,  it  is  ably  maintained  by  Professor  Wilson  that 
the  word  "  Darius  "  may  be  a  translation  of  the  foreign 
word  Gubaru;  or  perhaps  the  word  "  Darius  "  is  from 
a  Persian  word  meaning  "  king,"  and  so  was  not  a 
proper  name  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word ;  or  possibly 
the  individual  here  called  Darius  had  two  names,  as 
did  Rameses,  Solomon,  Artaxerxes,  and  Darius  Nothus, 
each  of  whom  was  sometimes  designated  by  another 
name.  Again,  in  the  Annals  of  Nabonidus,  Gobryas  is 
said  to  be  the  governor  of  the  land  of  Gutium,  which 
lay  at  t^ie  foot  of  the  pass  from  Ninevah  to  Ecbatana, 
the  capital  of  the  Medes.  He  would,  therefore,  very 
properly  be  called  a  Mede. 

But  the  supposition  that  Gobryas  and  Darius  are  the 
same  is  not  by  any  means  the  only  one  which  might  re- 
move the  apparent  discrepancy.     Those  who  wish  to 


52  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History. 

examine  the  matter  farther  will  find  it  fully  discussed 
by  Professor  Wilson  in  the  Appendix." 

But  these  difficulties,  being  chiefly  those  of  inter- 
pretation, and  being  such  as  arise  from  our  ignorance 
of  the  larger  part  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  his- 
tory, should  count  lightly  in  offsetting  positive  state- 
ments which  in  general  are  found  closely  to  conform 
with  the  known  conditions.  It  certainly  counts  for 
more  than  many  writers  are  willing  to  admit,  that  this 
bold  statement  in  Daniel  that  Belshazzar  was  king 
should  be  found  supported  by  the  monuments,  which 
bring  out  the  fact  that  Belshazzar,  though  so  young 
and  not  himself  sole  king,  was  endowed  by  his  father 
with  the  royal  privileges,  and  so  could  properly  receive 
the  title ;  and  that  the  statements  concerning  Darius 
the  Mede  are  not  positively  contradicted,  but  are  so 
easily  made  to  fit  in  to  the  general  outline  of  the  his- 
tory. 

THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    SENNACHERIb's    ARMY. 

Passing  backwards  to  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  we  come 
to  the  remarkable  account  of  the  invasion  of  Palestine 
by  Sennacherib,  and  the  opportune  destruction  of  his 
army,  on  the  plains  of  Philistia,  before  it  had  reached 
Jerusalem.  The  historical  character  of  the  account  of 
this  invasion  given  in  Kings  and  Chronicles,  and  its 
disastrous  conclusion,   while  not  directly  corroborated 


JMiddle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  53 

by  contemporary  Babylonian  documents,  is  in  the 
strongest  manner  indirectly  supported  both  by  them 
and  by  many  general  considerations.  The  Assyrian 
army  on  its  way  to  Egypt  was  delayed  on  the  unhealth- 
ful  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  for  the  siege  of 
Lachish  and  Libnah  (2  Kings  xviii.  14),  and  it  was 
there,  as  would  be  most  likely,  that  the  catastrophe  oc- 
curred. 

"  The  great  highway  of  commerce  and  war  between 
Asia  and  Africa,  after  leaving  Gaza,  the  most  southern 
Philistian  city,  passed  near  various  salt  marshes  along 
the  coast,  the  largest  of  which  was  known  as  the  Ser- 
bonian  Bog;  from  there  the  road  passed  to  Pelusium 
and  the  delta  of  the  Nile.  The  natural  conditions  of 
a  hot,  humid  climate,  and  great  stretches  of  mingled 
salt  and  fresh  water,  were  such  as  to  favor  the  devel- 
opment of  any  epidemic,  and  so  also  was  the  miserable 
condition  of  the  people.  '  The  Serbonian  Bog  was 
surrounded  b}'  communities  of  salt-makers  and  fish- 
curers:  filthy  villages  of  under-sized  and  imbecile  peo- 
ple who  always  had  disease  among  them.'  '  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  to  find  that  armies  passing  through 
this  region  were  nearly  always  decimated  by  pestilence.' 
'  It  was  here  that  ....  in  Justinian's  time,  the  plague 
started  more  than  once  a  course  right  across  the  world ; 
here  a  Crusading  expedition  showed  symptoms  of  the 
plague;  here  in  1799  Napoleon's  army  was  infected 
with  the  very  fatal  fievre  a  hiihons,  and  carried  the  dis- 
ease into  Syria,  while  the  Turkish  force  that  marched 


54  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

south  in  1801,  found  the  plague  about  Jatta  and  in 
the  delta.'  "  ' 

In  the  very  brief  description  of  the  biblical  writer, 
the  agency  of  the  Lord  is  given  prominence,  though 
even  then  it  is  through  an  angel  that  the  destruction  is 
said  to  have  been  accomplished.  In  view  of  recent  dis- 
coveries concerning  such  plagues  as  may  reasonably  be 
supposed  to  have  been  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
destruction  of  Sennacherib's  army,  over  whom 

"  The  angel  of  death  spread  his  wings  on  the  blast, 
And  breathed  on  the  face  of  the  foe  as  he  passed," 

the  references  to  the  event  by  the  profane  historians  are 
peculiarly  interesting.  Josephus  attributes  the  catas- 
trophe to  a  plague,  "  a  pestilential  distemper "  sent 
upon  the  army.^  Recent  medical  authorities  recognize 
it  as  the  bubonic  plague,  with  which  we  have  lately 
become  painfully  iamiliar.  One  reason  for  thus  assign- 
ing it  is  to  be  found  in  a  curious  statement  of  Hero- 
dotus,°  that  rats  and  mice  played  an  important  part  in 
the  tragedy.  According  to  him,  "  field  mice  poured  in 
upon  the  Assyrian  army,  devouring  their  quivers  and 
their  bows  and  the  thongs  of  their  shields,  so  that,  on 
the  next  day,  when  they  fled,  bereft  of  their  arms,  many 
of  them  fell."  It  is  a  striking  confirmation  of  the 
truthfulness  of  all  these  records,  that,  in  the  recent 
epidemics  of  the  bubonic  plague  in  India  and  China, 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  55 

it  is  found  that  they  are  characterized  by  an  enormous 
exodus  of  rats,  which  are  supposed  to  convey  the  con- 
tagion. 

Again  quoting  Dr.  Merrins, — 

"  It  is  now  well  known  that  many  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals, especially  rats,  and  mice,  and  other  rodents,  and 
the  parasites  that  infest  them,  are  important  agents  in 
the  propagation  of  plague,  and  die  themselves  in  large 
numbers  from  it.  Even  before  the  plague  attacks  hu- 
man beings,  it  destroj'^s  these  animals.  In  one  of  the 
most  important  and  ancient  of  Hindoo  writings,  the 
people  are  instructed  to  quit  their  homes,  and  go  to  the 
plains,  as  soon  as  they  observe  that  rats  fall  from  the 
roof  above,  jump  about,  or  die.  In  the  recent  Chinese 
epidemic,  masses  of  dead  rats  were  seen  in  the  streets 
of  Hongkong,  and  at  one  gate  alone,  in  the  city  of 
Canton,  the  keeper  collected  and  buried  no  less  than 
twenty-four  thousand  of  these  animals." 

"As  to  the  appalling  mortality  of  over  fifty  thousand 
in  the  Philistian  epidemic,  and  the  death  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  thousand  of  Sennacherib's  army, 
there  need  be  little  cavil.  In  the  Justinian  epidemic,  a 
'  myriad  of  myriads  '  are  said  to  have  perished.  In  the 
European  epidemic  of  the  fourteenth  century,  twenty- 
five  millions  died.  In  the  Great  Plague  of  London  of 
1665,  about  seventy  thousand  died.  Six  hundred  thou- 
sand have  died  during  the  course  of  the  present  epi- 
demic in  India  [1904],  and  it  is  still  pursuing  its 
dreadful  course." 


56  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

The  suddenness  of  the  destruction  of  the  army  de- 
scribed by  the  sacred  writer,  the  liability  of  such  epi- 
demics in  the  region  said  to  have  been  occupied  by  the 
army,  as  given  both  by  Josephus  and  the  sacred  writer, 
and  the  incidental  mention  by  Herodotus  of  what  we 
now  know  is  a  natural  accompaniment  of  the  bubonic 
plague, — all  serve  to  give  an  air  of  historic  reality  to 
this  account,  which  is  most  impressive. 

This  explanation  of  the  destruction  of  Sennacherib's 
army  receives  striking  confirmation  from  the  account 
given  in  i  Sam.  iv.— vi.  of  the  plague  which,  several 
centuries  before  (about  iioo  B.C.)  attacked  the  Philis- 
tines in  the  same  region  when  they  had  possession  of 
the  ark.  On  that  occasion  the  men  were  repeatedly 
smitten  w^ith  "  emerods  in  the  secret  parts  "  (v.  9),  and 
great  numbers  died.  One  remedy  proposed  by  the 
Philistines  was  to  "  make  images  of  your  mice  that  mar 
the  land"   (vi.  5).^« 

On  comparing  the  Assyrian  records  of  the  period  of 
Sennacherib  with  the  biblical  history,  the  air  of  reality 
in  the  biblical  account  is  most  strikingly  confirmed, 
though  there  is  no  distinct  reference  to  the  disastrous 
ending  of  the  campaign.  In  the  Assyrian  inscriptions, 
we  are  told  that,  in  his  third  campaign,  Sennacherib 
marched  to  the  land  of  the  Hittites,  and  passed  on  to 
the  coast  of  Philistia,  capturing  numerous  cities,  and 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  57 

encountered  the  Egyptian  army.  But  meanwhile 
"  Hezekiah  of  Judah,  who  had  not  submitted  to  my 
yoke  ....  was  shut  up  like  a  bird  in  a  cage  in  Jerusa- 
lem, his  royal  citj^"  But  while  mention  is  made  of 
the  capture  of  many  of  the  minor  cities  of  Hezekiah's 
kingdom,  there  is  a  significant  silence  respecting  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem  itself.  It  is  noteworthy,  also,  that 
there  is  no  hint  in  the  Assyrian  records  of  Senna- 
cherib's having  visited  the  western  land  during  the 
twenty  subsequent  years  of  his  reign.  Thus,  in  the 
silences  of  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  we  find  ample 
opportunity  for  the  occurrence  of  the  disasters  men- 
tioned by  both  the  sacred  and  profane  historians  who 
give  us  the  other  side  of  the  story.  Sennacherib  does 
indeed  mention  that  Hezekiah  sent  to  him  large  tribute, 
— "  thirty  talents  of  gold  and  eight  hundred  talents 
of  silver,  great  stores  of  lapis  lazuli,  couches  of  ivory, 
arm  chairs  of  ivory  covered  with  elephants'  hide."  This, 
too,  is  corroborative  of  the  sacred  account,  which  in- 
forms us  that  Hezekiah,  in  order  to  appease  the  Assyr- 
ians for  having  transferred  his  allegiance  from  them  to 
Egypt,  emptied  the  treasuries  of  his  temple  and  the 
king's  house,  cut  off  the  gold  plate  of  the  door  posts  of 
the  temple,  and  sent  thirty  talents  of  gold  and  three 
hundred  talents  of  silver  to  buy  off  Sennacherib. 


58  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History. 

THE  TIMES  OF  AHAB  AND  JEHU. 

Going  back  to  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  B.C., 
we  again  find,  in  the  sacred  records  relating  to  the 
times  of  Ahab  and  Jehu,  some  of  our  most  striking 
undesigned  corroborations  of  their  truthfulness.  From 
the  brief  and  fragmentary  historical  statements  in  the 
book  of  Kings,  we  learn  that,  about  the  middle  of  this 
century,  the  Northern  Kingdom  of  Israel,  under  the 
lead  of  Ahab,  was  engaged  in  war  with  the  Syrians  un- 
der the  leadership  of  Ben-hadad  ( i  Kings  xx. )  in  which 
the  Syrians  were  ignominiously  defeated  in  the  plain 
near  Aphek.  Whereupon  Ben-hadad,  with  a  rope 
around  his  neck,  appealed  to  Ahab  for  mercy,  when, 
contrary  to  what  would  have  been  expected,  Ben-hadad 
was  not  only  treated  mercifully,  but  generously.  There 
was  no  demand  made  for  the  surrender  of  Damascus 
or  for  any  other  serious  and  humiliating  conditions,  but 
a  treaty  was  entered  into  with  the  Syrians  by  which 
they  became  allies  of  Israel. 

It  is  significant  that  shortly  after  this,  at  the  battle 
of  Karkar  (854  B.C.),  Ahab  was  found  fighting  side  by 
side  with  Hadadezer  (identical  with  Ben-hadad)  of 
Damascus,  and  a  number  of  other  allies,  on  the  Medi- 
terranean coast,  against  the  Assyrian  army  under  Shal- 
maneser  II.  In  this  battle  the  Assyrians  were  victorious. 
But  the  victory  was  evidently  so  nearly  a  drawn  battle 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  59 

that  the  Assyrians  did  not  make  much  further  headway, 
for  they  advanced  only  so  far  as  the  O rentes  River, 
when  they  turned  back,  and  left  the  countrj?^  unmolested 
for  several  years.  Three  years  after,  however,  (see 
I  Kings  xxii.,)  we  find  Israel  again  at  war  with  Syria, 
fighting  for  the  possession  of  Ramoth-Gilead,  where 
Ahab  was  killed. 

In  these  accounts,  when  dovetailed  together,  we  find 
a  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  truthfulness  of  the 
sacred  records  in  the  explanation  which  is  given  by 
them  of  the  varying  attitudes  of  Ahab  toward  the 
Syrian  king.  As  near  neighbors  struggling  for  con- 
tiguous territorj^,  Israel  and  Syria  were  natural  enemies. 
But  as  Ahab  was  not  totally  destitute  of  discernment, 
and  presumably  possessed  some  of  the  qualities  of  far- 
seeing  statesmanship,  he  could  but  see,  in  the  rising 
power  of  Assyria,  and  in  the  movements  of  Shalmane- 
ser's  army  towards  the  west  line,  the  approach  of  a 
more  formidable  enemy  than  the  smaller  power  could 
be  whose  capital  was  at  Damascus.  This  most  readily 
accounts  for  the  leniency  with  which  he  treated  Ben- 
hadad,  and  for  the  treaty  which  he  made  with  him,  an 
account  of  which  is  given  in  the  book  of  Kings.  A 
most  natural  sequel  to  this  is  the  appearance  of  Ahab 
and  Ben-hadad  together  upon  the  field  of  Karkar  in  a 
partially  successful  attempt  to  resist  the  common  enemy, 


6o  Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History. 

who  was  approaching  under  the  leadership  of  Shalmane- 
ser;  while  the  temporarj^  success  of  their  resistance,  by 
relieving  them  for  a  period  from  the  dangers  of  an 
Assyrian  invasion,  left  Syria  and  Israel  again  to  be  the 
prey  of  their  own  petty  jealousies,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  the  wars  which  followed  so  soon  after.  Such 
an  undesigned  adaptation  between  the  accounts  of  the 
sacred  writers  and  of  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  certainly 
gives  an  air  of  reality  to  that  of  the  sacred  writers  which 
cannot  easily  be  resisted. 

THE   BLACK  OBELISK  OF   SHALMANESER   IL 

The    undesigned    coincidences   in   these    records   are 
continued    in    a    remarkable   manner    in    the    accounts 

which  are  given  of  the  later  expedition  in  B.C.  842,  a 

partial  record  of  which  is  found  on  the  celebrated  black 

obelisk  of  Shalmaneser  II.    According  to  the  record  on 

the  monument,  this  great  Assyrian  conqueror  in  that 

year  crossed  the  Euphrates  for  the  sixteenth  time,  and 

in  the  course  of  his  victorious  career  conquered  Hazael 

of  Damascus,  and  pursued  him  to  his  royal  city,  and 

shut  him  up  while  he  devastated  his  territory  as  far  as 

the  mountains  of  Hauran  on  the  one  side,  and  to  the 

sea  at  Beirut   (Dog  River)   on  the  other.     But  while 

there  is  no  mention  of  his  fighting  with  the  Tyrians, 

Sidonians,   and   Israelites,    it   is   said   that   he   received 


Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History.  6 1 

tribute  of  them,  and  "  of  Jehu  the  son  of  Omri."  Now, 
as  there  is  no  mention  in  the  sacred  records  of  any  de- 
feat of  Jehu  by  the  Assyrians,  nor  of  the  paying  of 
tribute  by  him,  it  is  but  the  most  natural  thing  that  the 
tribute  should  have  been  paid  under  the  conditions 
which  are  implied  in  the  whole  biblical  account;  for, 
in  the  period  subsequent  to  the  battle  of  Karkar,  Da- 
mascus had  turned  against  Israel,  so  that  Israel's  most 
natural  method  of  humiliating  the  Syrian  power  was 
by  making  terms  with,  and  paying  tribute  to.  Shal- 
maneser  II. 

THE  MOABITE  STONE. 

One  of  the  most  important  monumental  discoveries 
in  giving  reality  to  Old  Testament  history  was  that  of 
the  Moabite  stone,  which  was  set  up  by  King  Mesha 
(about  850  B.C.)  to  signalize  his  deliverance  from  the 
yoke  which  Omri,  the  king  of  Israel,  had  imposed  upon 
him.  The  inscription  upon  this  stone  was  valuable, 
among  other  things,  for  its  witness  to  the  civilized  con- 
dition of  the  Moabites  at  that  time,  and  to  the  close 
similarity  of  their  language  to  that  of  the  Hebrew. 
From  it  alone  we  learn  that  Omri,  king  of  Israel,  was 
compelled  by  the  rebellion  of  Mesha  to  resubjugate 
Moab;  that,  in  doing  so,  he  and  his  son  occupied  the 
cities  of  Moab  for  a  period  of  forty  3'ears,  but  that  it 
was  restored  to  the  Moabites  in  the  davs  of  Mesha, 


62  Middle  and  Later  Jetvish  History. 

after  a  series  of  battles.  Whereupon  the  cities  and 
fortresses  retaken  were  strengthened,  and  the  country 
repopulated,  while  the  methods  of  warfare  were  similar 
to  those  practiced  by  Israel.  On  comparing  this  with 
2  Kings  iii.  4-27,  we  find  a  parallel  account,  which 
dovetails  in  with  this  in  a  most  remarkable  manner, 
though  naturally  the  biblical  account  treats  lightly  of 
the  reconquest,  simply  stating  that,  on  account  of 
horror  created  by  the  idolatrous  sacrifices  of  the  king 
of  Moab,  who  offered  his  eldest  son  as  a  sacrifice  upon 
the  wall  before  them,  they  departed  from  the  land  and 
returned  to  their  own  country. 

THE    EXPEDITION    OF    SHISHAK. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  First  Kings  we  have  a 
verj^  brief  account  of  an  expedition  of  Shishak,  king  of 
Egypt,  against  Jerusalem,  in  the  fifth  year  of  Reho- 

boam.  To  the  humiliation  of  Judah  it  is  told  that  he 
succeeded  in  taking  away  the  treasures  of  the  house  of 
Jehovah  and  of  the  king's  house,  among  them  all  the 
shields  of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made ;  so  that 
Rehoboam  made  shields  of  brass  in  their  stead.  To 
this  simple,  unadorned  account  there  is  given  a  won- 
derful air  of  reality  when  one  gazes  on  the  southern 
wall  of  the  court  of  the  temple  of  Amun  at  Karnak, 
and    beholds  the   great  mass   of  sculptures   and    hiero- 


Middle  and  Later  Jeivish  History.  63 

gh'phics  which  are  there  inscribed  to  represent  this 
campaign  of  Shishak.  One  hundred  and  fifty-six  places 
are  enumerated  among  those  which  were  captured,  the 
northernmost  being  Megiddo.  Among  these  places  are 
Gaza,  Adullum,  Beth-horon,  Aijalon,  Gibeon,  and 
Juda-melech,  in  which  Dr.  Birch  is  probably  correct  in 
recognizing  the  sacred  city  of  Jerusalem. 

BREVITY   OF   THE    BOOK   OF   JUDGES. 

Going    back    to    the    book    of    Judges    we    reach    a 
portion    of    Israelitish    history    in    which    we    should 
expect    little    direct    and    positive    scientific    confirma- 
tion of  the  biblical   story,   since  it   is  so  local   in   its 
references,  and  is  professedly  so  fragmentary.     In  giv- 
ing the  history  (if  a  few  biographical  accounts  can  be 
called  history)   of  four  hundred  years,  nothing  is  said 
of  more  than  half  of  the  time,   for  the  reason  that  it 
was    made    up    of    long   periods    of    uneventful    peace. 
"And  the  land  had  rest  "  is  the  sole  record  for  forty 
years  under  Othniel,  eighty  years  under  and  after  Ehud, 
forty  jTars  after  Deborah's  victory,  and  forty  years  un- 
der Gideon.     Such  periods  of  peace  are  unusual  in  any 
people's  history,  and  betoken  the  presence  of  most  pow- 
erful  conservative   influences.      That   those    influences 
proceeded  from  the  law  and  the  priesthood,  whose  es- 
tablishment is   recorded   in   the   Pentateuch,   is   a   most 


64  Aliddle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

reasonable  supposition.  The  waj^  in  which  many 
biblical  critics  have  endeavored  to  reverse  the  historical 
statements  of  the  Pentateuch  by  appealing  to  negative 
evidence  drawn  from  a  history  professedly  so  imperfect 
and  fragmentary  as  the  book  of  Judges  is,  is  a  travesty 
on  the  so-called  inductive  and  scientific  criticism  of  the 
Bible. 

Joshua's  command  to  the  sun  to  stand  still. 

The  passage  in  Joshua  where  he  is  supposed  to  have 
ordered  the  sun  to  stand  still,  apparently  makes  such 
enormous  demands  upon  our  scientific  credulity  that  it 
should  not  be  passed  without  a  word  of  explanation. 
Close  attention  to  the  language,  however,  readily  re- 
moves the  difficulties  created  by  an  erroneous  popular 
interpretation. 

The  passage  (Josh.  x.  12,  13)  is  a  poetical  quota- 
tion interpolated  in  the  prose  account  given  of  a  victory 
over  the  Amorites  and  their  confederates  at  Beth- 
horon.  An  element  which  contributed  to  this  victory 
was  a  fearful  storm,  in  which  "  they  were  more  which 
died  with  hailstones  than  they  whom  the  children  of 
Israel  slew  with  the  sword  "  ( ver.  11).  The  following 
four  verses  form  a  parenthesis  whose  central  portion 
is  a  quotation  from  the  poetical  book  of  Jasher,  and  is 
therefore  naturally  to  be  interpreted  with  a  liberality 


Middle  and  Later  Jezvish  History.  65 

which  that  class  of  literature  can  justly  claim.  More- 
over, the  passage  that  makes  the  difficulty  is  fairly 
open  to  a  prose  translation  and  interpretation  which 
create  no  difficulty  at  all.  The  command  "  Sun,  stand 
thou  still  upon  Gibeon,"  is  rendered  in  the  mar- 
gin of  our  Authorized  Version,  "  be  thou  silent,"  etc. 
(a  well-established  meaning  of  the  word).  In  the 
case  of  the  sun  this  is  equivalent  to  "  cease  to  shine," 
which  would  be  fulfilled  in  its  obscuration  during  the 
raging  storm  which  followed.  In  the  thirteenth  verse 
the  proper  conclusion  of  the  object  of  the  prayer  is  that 
the  sun  should  cease  shining  "  until  the  people  had 
avenged  themselves  upon  their  enemies." 

In  the  words  of  the  very  learned  and  orthodox  com- 
mentator Keil, — 

"  Joshua  can  scarcely  have  intended  by  this  to  ex- 
press the  wish  that  God  would  work  a  miracle  by  his 
omnipotence,  and  make  the  sun  and  moon  stand  still ; 
at  the  most  he  can  only  have  been  anxious  that  the  sun 
and  moon  should  not  set  till  Israel  had  entirely  de- 
feated his  enemies.  And,  therefore,  when  the  poet 
announces  in  the  following  words  the  fulfillment  of 
that  desire,  '  and  the  sun  waited  and  the  moon  stood 
still  till  the  people  had  avenged  themselves  upon  their 
enemies  '  (ver.  13)  ;  he  is  only  saying  that  God  heark- 
ened to  Joshua's  prayer,  and  gave  the  Israelites  a  com- 
plete victory  over  their  enemies  before  the  setting  of  the 


66  Middle  and  Later  Jewish  History. 

sun  and  moon,  without  intending  to  affirm  that  the 
sun  and  moon  miraculously  stood  still." 

"  If  we  had  before  us  simple  prose  or  the  words  of 
the  historian  himself,  we  should  wrthout  the  least  hesi- 
tation admit  that  the  day  was  miraculously  lengthened 
in  consequence  of  a  delay  in  the  course  and  setting  of 
the  sun.  But  verses  13  and  14  contain  merely  an  am- 
plification or  poetical  expansion  of  the  words  really 
uttered  by  Joshua  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict:  'Sun, 
wait  ....  till  the  people  have  avenged  themselves  upon 
their  enemies  ' ;  and  we  should  therefore  entirely  over- 
look the  essential  nature  of  poetry,  if  we  adhered  closely 
to  the  words  of  the  poet,  and  so  understood  them  to 
mean  that  the  day  was  miraculously  prolonged  because 
the  sun  stood  still.  In  fact  it  would  betray  an  utter 
inability  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  poetry  or  of  figur- 
ative writing,  to  continue  to  regard  the  words  of 
Joshua,  '  Sun,  wait  at  Gibeon,  and  Moon,  in  the  valley 
of  Ajalon,'  either  as  a  command  to  the  sun  and  moon, 
or  as  a  prayer  that  God  would  cause  them  to  stand 
still."  ^^ 


Israel  in  Egypt.  67 


CHAPTER  III. 


ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 


With  this  brief  outline  of  the  general  confirmation 
of  the  later  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  will 
now  proceed  to  a  more  specific  presentation  of  a  mass 
of  recently  discovered  scientific  facts  which  have  a  dis- 
tinct bearing  upon  the  truth  of  a  number  of  the  more 
startling  statements  incorporated  into  the  early  part 
of  the  biblical  history.  We  shall  dwell  with  fullness 
upon  these  facts,  not  so  much  because  they  are  more 
important  than  others,  but  because  they  are  in  the  line 
of  studies  which  I  have  been  pursuing  for  many  j^ears, 
and  which  lead  to  results  which  are  as  yet  but  im- 
perfectly known  to  the  general  public,  but  which  are 
so  distinct  a  contribution  to  the  discussion  that  it  is 
important  to  have  them  presented  with  such  fullness 
that  they  shall  not  hereafter  be  neglected. 

Several  of  the  brief  and  fragmentary  historical  state- 
ments which  are  made  in  the  early  part  of  the  Penta- 
teuch involve  natural  phenomena  which  so  challenge 
scientific  investigation  that  they  afford  an  unusual  op- 
portunity for  cross-examination.  But,  as  already  re- 
marked, it  is  important  to  premise  that  scientific  facts 


68  Israel  in  Egypt. 

can  be  intelligently  stated  in  every  form  of  literature. 
It  is  the  province  of  the  man  of  science  to  discern  the 
substratum  of  fact  in  the  statements  of  uncultured  men. 
Indeed,  the  plain  statements  of  such  are  often  of  highest 
scientific  value ;  for,  by  analyzing  them,  it  is  Usually 
not  difficult  to  determine  the  so-called  "  personal  equa- 
tion," and  arrive  at  the  kernel  of  truth.  At  the  same 
time  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  determination 
of  the  personal  equation  of  a  witness  is  as  important  in 
the  case  of  a  scientific  man  as  it  is  in  that  of  an  ordi- 
nary observer.  The  testimony  of  any  one  who  simply 
reports  the  impressions  made  upon  his  .senses,  without 
going  into  an  explanation  of  the  phenomena  which  lie 
beyond  his  ken,  is  highly  appreciated  by  scientific  men. 
It  is  important  constantly  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 
all  statements,  whether  in  the  Bible  or  out  of  the  Bible, 
demand  interpretation.  We  must  first  determine  what 
it  is  which  has  really  been  said.  "  The  Bible  is  what 
the  Bible  means."  In  statements  made  with  particular 
ends  mainly  in  view,  the  implications  involved  must 
be  considered  in  light  of  well-established  rhetorical 
principles.  When  it  is  said,  for  example,  that  a  black 
thunder-cloud  overspreads  the  heavens,  it  is  petty  crit- 
icism to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  a  cloud  never  is 
perfectly  black.  When  it  is  said  that  the  ivhole  country 
is  devastated  by  some  calamity,  it  would  be  ridiculous 


Israel  in  E^iypl.  69 

to  interpret  that  as  a  mathematical  formula,  and  to 
challenge  the  truth  of  the  statement  by  showing  that 
there  were  certain  garden  spots  that  had  escaped  the 
devastation.  So,  in  describing  the  plagues  of  Egypt, 
it  is  pitiable  criticism  to  find  a  discrepancy  in  the  state- 
ments which  declare,  in  one  place,  that  the  "  hail 
smote  every  herb  in  the  field,  and  brake  every  tree  of 
the  field,"  while,  in  a  following  paragraph,  it  is 
threatened  that  the  locusts  "  shall  eat  the  residue  of 
that  which  is  escaped,  which  remaineth  unto  you  from 
the  hail,  and  shall  eat  every  tree  which  groweth  for 
you  out  of  the  field."  And  yet  it  would  be  equally 
erroneous  to  minimize  these  statements,  and  interpret 
them  as  expressing  evils  of  small  extent. 

It  is  necessary  to  say  so  much  in  general,  even  at  the 
risk  of  some  repetition,  in  order  to  ward  off  that  carp- 
ing criticism  of  biblical  history  which  first  gives  to  it 
an  interpretation  out  of  character  with  the  style  of  the 
literature,  and  then,  in  rejecting  the  interpretation, 
asserts  that  the  account  itself  is  to  be  rejected.  We  re- 
fuse to  recognize  the  wisdom  of  interpreters,  however 
learned  they  may  be,  who  put  upon  common  language 
the  specific  and  finical  significance  of  dilettante 
writers. 

In  the  account  of  the  sojourn  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  we 
find    ourselves   peculiarly    in    the    realm    of    historical 


70  Israel  in  Egypt. 

reality.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  seven-5^ear  fam- 
ine of  Joseph's  time  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  event  in 
Egyptian  history.  An  inscription  on  an  island  near  the 
First  Cataract,  between  Assouan  and  Philae,  dating 
probably  from  the  third  century  B.c.^  describes  a  fam- 
ine, which  occurred  about  3000  B.c.^  occasioned  by 
successive  years  of  low  water.^  These  periodical  fam- 
ines receive  much  light,  and  the  record  of  them  becomes 
more  easily  credible,  from  a  study  of  the  physical  con- , 
ditions  which  determine  the  growth  of  crops  in  Egypt. 
The  more  one  investigates  the  subject,  the  more  he  is 
surprised  at  the  delicacy  of  the  balance  of  phj^sical 
forces  which  annually  determines  the  prosperity  of  the 
Egyptian  agriculturist.  Mr.  Moses  Cotsworth  has 
published  an  interesting  work  upon  the  pyramids,-  to 
show  that  they  represent  a  series  of  experiments  to 
obtain  a  trustworthy  sun-dial  from  whose  shadow  the 
exact  dates  of  the  vernal  and  autumnal  equinoxes  could 
be  obtained,  and  that  this  object  was  at  last  attained  in 
the  Great  Pyramid  of  Cheops. 

The  difficulty  and  the  importance  of  determining 
these  exact  points  of  time  each  year  are  not  generally 
appreciated.  Few  realize  how  much  we  owe  to  the 
astronomical  observations  of  the  ancients  in  determin- 
ing the  precise  length  of  the  year.  Since  this  is  365 
days,  5  hours,  48  minutes,  46  seconds,  the  point  shifts 


Israel  in  Egypt.  7 1 

SO  imperceptibly  that  long  observations  must  have  been 
required  to  ascertain  the  exact  period.  But  it  w^as 
especially  necessary  to  determine  this  in  Egypt,  in  order 
that  the  crops  might  be  sown  at  a  proper  time.  For, 
if  the  rotation  of  crops  each  year  can  be  properly  ad- 
justed, two  crops,  and  sometimes  three,  can  be  secured; 
while,  if  a  mistake  of  even  a  few  days  is  made  in  the 
time  of  sowing  the  first  crop,  the  second  one  would  be 
imperiled,  and  the  third  one  rendered  impossible.  Our 
friend  suggested  that  the  successive  years  of  plenty  and 
famine  were  occasioned  by  the  skill  with  which  the 
right  time  for  sowing  the  first  crop  was  determined  in 
the  years  of  plenty,  and  the  failure  to  observe  the  most 
favorable  seedtime  in  the  years  of  famine. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  can  be  easily  seen  that, 
when  population  had  reached  the  great  density  which  it 
evidently  had  in  Egypt,  where  the  margin  between 
plenty  and  want  was  so  narrow^  a  slight  mistake  in 
astronomical  observations  might  have  produced  a  series 
of  disastrous  years.  Indeed,  our  friend  further  sug- 
gested, that  he  was  not  sure  but  that  the  years  of  famine 
were  produced  purposely  by  Joseph  to  secure  for  Pha- 
raoh the  nationalization  of  the  land,  whereby,  as  now 
under  the  strict  justice  of  English  rule,  the  distribution 
of  water  could  be  regulated  more  equitably  by  the  cen- 
tral authorities.     And  it  is  evident  that,  where  depend- 


72  Israel  in  Egypt. 

ence  is  had  upon  irrigatioia,  success  can  be  obtained 
only  by  the  strongest  form  of  centralized  government. 

But,  apart  from  such  considerations,  there  are  cer- 
tain physical  elements  in  the  problem  which  render  a 
solution  easy  without  involving  human  nature  in  such 
questionable  operations.  It  was  long  since  surmised 
by  Sir  Robert  Murchison,  even  before  the  lakes  of  Cen- 
tral Africa  were  discovered,  that  the  inundations  of 
the  Nile  indicated  that  Central  Africa  was  shaped  like 
a  great  saucer,  in  which  the  accumulating  waters  in 
the  rainy  season  rising  a  few  feet  would  serve  as  a 
reservoir  to  secure  the  prolonged  high-water  which  was 
necessary  for  the  fertility  of  Egypt. 

We  now  know  that  this  is  the  case.  The  water  of 
the  rainy  season  accumulates  rapidly  in  the  great  cen- 
tral lakes,  but  it  can  pass  through  the  constricted  out- 
let only  in  a  limited  stream,  and  if  this  outlet  should  be 
liable  to  obstructions,  it  might  occur  that  there  would 
be  a  deficiency  of  outflow  for  a  series  of  years,  followed 
by  an  unusual  abundance  for  another  series  of  years, 
and  then  a  still  greater  deficiency  for  a  following 
period.  It  has  long  been  known  that  the  accumulation 
of  vegetable  matter  technically  known  as  the  sudd  has 
sometimes  collected  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Nile  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  obstruct  the  flow  of  water  for  a 
period,  and  produce  great  distress  in  Lower  Eg}'pt.    It 


Israel  in  Egypt.  73 

is  probable  that  this  was  the  cause  of  the  extreme  low- 
water  and  drought  which  existed  in  Egypt  from  the 
year  1064  a.d.  to  the  year  107 1,  when  the  whole  coun- 
try was  well-nigh  disorganized  through  the  effects  of 
the  famine.  Of  this  period  Edward  Stanley  Poole 
gives  the  following  vivid  account: — 

"  The  most  remarkable  famine  was  that  of  the 
reign  of  the  Fatimee  Khaleefeh,  El-Mustansir  billah, 
which  is  the  only  instance  on  record  of  one  of  seven 
years'  duration  in  Egypt  since  the  time  of  Joseph  (a.d. 
1064-1071).  This  famine  exceeded  in  severity  all 
others  of  modern  times,  and  was  aggravated  by  the 
anarchy  which  then  ravaged  the  country.  Vehement 
drought  and  pestilence  (says  Es-Suyootee,  in  his  Hosn 
el  Mohddarah,  MS.)  continued  for  seven  consecutive 
years,  so  that  they  [the  people]  ate  corpses,  and  ani- 
mals that  died  of  themselves;  the  cattle  perished;  a 
dog  was  sold  for  five  deenars,  and  a  cat  for  three 
deenars  ....  and  an  ardebb  (about  five  bushels)  of 
wheat  for  one  hundred  deenars,  and  then  it  failed 
altogether.  He  adds,  that  all  the  horses  of  the  Kha- 
leefeh, save  three,  perished,  and  gives  numerous  in- 
stances of  the  straits  to  which  the  wretched  inhabitants 
were  driven,  and  of  the  organised  bands  of  kidnappers 
who  infested  Cairo  and  caught  passengers  in  the  streets 
by  ropes  furnished  with  hooks  and  let  down  from  the 
houses.  This  account  is  confirmed  by  El-Makreezee 
(in  his  Khitat)  y  from  whom  we  further  learn  that  the 
family,  and  even  the  women  of  the  Khaleefeh  fled,  by 


74  Israel  in  Egypt. 

the  way  of   Syria,   on   foot,    to   escape   the   peril   that 
threatened  all  ranks  of  the  population."  ^ 

Again,  in  A.D.  I  io6,  as  is  related  by  the  Arabic  his- 
torian Elmacin,  there  was  a  period  of  low  water  which 
caused  great  alarm  in  Egypt.  Whereupon 
"  the  '  Sultan  of  Egypt '  sent  an  envoy  with  magnifi- 
cent presents  to  the  Emperor  of  Ethiopia,  begging  him 
to  remove  the  cause  of  the  Nile's  failure  in  that  year, 
and  so  save  Egypt  from  the  horrors  of  famine.  The 
Ethiopian  monarch  was  ultimately  persuaded  '  to  suf- 
fer a  dam  to  be  opened  that  had  turned  the  river, 
which,  taking  its  usual  course,  rose  three  cubits  in  one 
day.'  The  historian  records  that  '  the  envoy  on  his 
return  received  great  honors  '  from  the  relieved  Egj^p- 
tians.    * 

In  the  year  1899  considerable  alarm  was  caused  by 
the  deficiency  of  water  coming  down  the  Nile.  In  a 
letter  to  the  Times,  Mr.  Willcocks,  the  eminent  Eng- 
lish engineer  in  charge  of  the  irrigation  works  in 
Egypt,  describes  the  cause,  together  with  the  remedy, 
in  the  following  words : — 

"...  The  White  Nile  is  completely  closed  by  the 
sudd,  and  the  waters  are  w^andering  over  the  immense 
swamps  which  stretch  from  latitude  7  to  latitude  10. 
The  failure  of  this  supply  in  the  summer  of  1900  will 
be  serious.  Now  England  holds  the  keys  of  the  Nile. 
The  waters  which  leave  the  Great  Lakes  are  considered 
never  to  fall  below  18,000  cubic  feet  per  second   (see 


Israel  in  Egypt.  75 

Sir  W.  Garstln's  last  report  on  the  Soudan,  published 
by  the  Egyptian  Government).  The  discharge  at  As- 
souan, in  spite  of  the  additions  of  surface  and  subsoil 
waters  from  the  Gazelle,  the  Sobat,  the  Blue  Nile,  and 
the  Atbara,  has  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  twice 
fallen  as  low  as  7,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  and  may 
again  fall  as  low,  or  even  lower.  What  becomes  of 
the  immense  body  of  water  which  leaves  the  lakes? 
After  passing  Lado,  the  White  Nile  splits  up  into  nu- 
merous branches  which  lose  themselves  in  the  swamps. 
'Divide  et  Impera.'  The  swamps  vanquish  the  Nile. 
Now  if  a  very  small  expedition  were  to  find  its  way  to 
Lado  via  Mombasa,  and  engage  laborers  among  the 
Bari  and  Madi  tribes,  it  would  be  a  comparatively 
easy  task  to  close  the  heads  of  the  Bahr  Seraf  and  other 
channels  which  leave  the  right  bank  and  confine  the  wa- 
ter to  the  Bahr-el-Jebel,  which  passes  by  Bor  and  Sham- 
beh.  (Colonel  Martyr  says  the  sudd  is  thirty  miles 
north  of  Shambeh.  If  he  had  had  a  canal  engineer 
with  him,  he  might  have  cut  the  sudd  and  come  on 
to  Khartum.)  Once  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes 
were  confined  to  one  channel  they  would  be  able  to 
account  for  any  amount  of  sudd.  No  attempt  has  ever 
been  made  to  cut  the  sudd  with  the  aid  of  the  current. 
This  is  the  true  way  to  do  it,  looked  at  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  hydraulic  engineer.  Once  the  sudd  is 
removed,  it  will  be  easy,  with  the  aid  of  a  dredger  and 
willows,  to  confine  the  water  permanently  to  one  chan- 
nel, because  it  is  muddy  for  three  months  in  the  year. 


76  Israel  in  Egypt. 

Willows  will  have  to  be  imported,  as  none  are  to  be 
found  in  the  White  Nile  or  the  Gazelle  river;  and 
very  possibly  it  is  owing  to  their  absence  from  these  re- 
gions that  the  swamps  have  become  so  unmanage- 
able." = 

Since  this  letter  of  !Mr.  Willcocks's,  Lord  Cromer's 
report  for  the  year  I  goo  on  the  "  Condition  of  Egypt 
and  the  Soudan  "  gives  further  interesting  and  signifi- 
cant information.  From  this  it  appears  that  the  sur- 
face of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  had  fallen  from  three 
feet  two  inches  in  1898  to  one  foot  seven  inches  in 
1900,  and  that  Major  Peake  was  making  good  progress 
in  removing  the  sudd  by  cutting  it  up  in  large  blocks ; 
but 

"  instead  of  sudd  being,  as  had  been  supposed,  a  tangle 
of  weeds  floating  on  the  w^ater  and  descending  a  few  feet 
below  the  surface,  it  proved  in  most  cases  to  be  a  mass  of 
decayed  vegetation,  papyrus  roots,  and  earth,  much  re- 
sembling peat  in  consistency,  and  compressed  into  such 
solidity  by  the  force  of  the  current  that  men  could  walk 
over  it  everywhere,  and  even  elephants  could,  in  places, 
cross  it  without  danger.  One  block  in  the  Bahr-el-jabel, 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles  south  of  Lake  No,  is 
twenty-five  miles  long.  Another  fifty-two  miles  south 
is  fifty-three  miles  long.  In  both  instances  the  true 
channel  of  the  river  is  blocked  by  sudd,  and  it  now  fol- 
lows a  false  channel ;  in  the  former  instance  it  passes 
through  a  series  of  broad  shallow  lakes.''  ^ 


Israel  in  Egypt.  77 

In  view  of  these  lake  reservoirs  in  Central  Africa, 
and  of  the  readiness  with  which  their  outlets  may  be 
temporarily  obstructed,  successive  3^ears  of  plenty  and 
of  famine  in  Egypt  no  longer  seem  a  mystery.  The 
real  mj'stery  of  the  Bible  account  connected  with  the 
events  of  Joseph's  career  iis  the  supernatural  revelation 
made  to  him,  which,  being  itself  a  miracle,  elevated  the 
whole  transaction  into  the  realm  of  the  miraculous.  It 
is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  biblical  account  is 
not  compromised  by  any  doubtful  references  to  super- 
natural agency  in  the  production  either  of  the  years 
of  plenty  or  of  famine.  We  may,  therefore,  easily  im- 
agine the  progress  of  events  to  have  been  something  as 
follovv's : — 

The  Great  Lake  Victoria,  which  forms  the  principal 
reservoir  for  the  regulation  of  the  flood  of  the  Nile,  has 
an  area  of  forty  thousand  square  miles,  being  about 
twice  as  large  as  Lake  Huron.  A  gradual  obstruction 
of  the  outlet  which  should  cause  its  surface  to  rise  a 
few  feet  in  the  course  of  time,  would  greatly  enlarge 
its  surface  by  flooding  the  marshy  tracts  on  either  side, 
and  thus  store  up  an  immense  amount  of  water,  com- 
pared with  which,  that  to  be  ponded  back  by  the  dam 
which  the  Egyptian  government  has  built  at  Assouan 
would  be  a  mere  bagatelle.  That,  to  be  sure,  raises  the 
water  at  Philae  sixty  feet,  and  sets  it  back  up  the  river 


78  Israel  in  Egypt. 

to  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  but  as  the 
river  is  not  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  its  total  sur- 
face is  scarcely  over  forty  square  miles,  that  is,  one- 
thousandth  part  of  the  surface  of  the  Victoria  Lake. 
A  rise  of  two  or  three  feet,  therefore,  in  the  great  lake 
would  store  an  almost  incalculable  amount  of  water. 
To  produce  the  results  described  in  connection  with 
the  history  of  Joseph,  we  may  easily  suppose  that  the 
main  outlet  at  length  became  so  clogged  with  sudd  that 
the  overflow  opened  up  a  fresh  channel  on  one  side, 
which,  by  rapidly  enlarging  itself,  would  let  down  an 
abnormal  amount  of  water  for  a  series  of  years,  and  so 
supply  the  conditions  of  successive  5'ears  of  plenty. 
At  length  these  channels  became  again  filled  with  sudd, 
thus  obstructing  the  water  and  causing  years  of  famine 
below,  until  the  reservoir  had  again  filled  up  with 
water  and  the  channel  could  readjust  itself  in  more 
permanent  form.  This  succession  of  events  is  easy 
enough  to  imagine  as  taking  place  in  conformity  with 
the  foreordained  conditions  existing  in  the  region.  In- 
deed, so  natural  does  the  succession  of  events  recorded 
now  seem,  that  it  is  capable  of  being  perceived  and 
believed  upon  as  small  amount  of  evidence  as  that 
which  would  establish  the  occurrence  of  any  ordinary 
event.  The  Nile  itself  is  a  wonderful  illustration  of 
the  complicated  character  of  Divine  Providence.     The 


Israel  in  Egypt.  yg 

revelation  of  a  small  section  of  that  wonder  to  a 
divinely  chosen  agent,  such  as  Joseph  was,  in  the  train- 
ing of  the  chosen  people,  is  as  easy  to  believe  as  anything 
else  which  is  supernatural. 

VACILLATIONS   OF   THE    GOVERNMENT. 

The  favor  with  which  the  children  of  Israel  were 
received  in  Egypt  is  rendered  altogether  credible  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  during  the  period  of  the  Hyksos,  or 
Shepherd  Kings,  who  were  themselves  conquerors  from 
the  East,  and  had  their  capital,  Zoan,  between  Egypt 
and  Canaan.  The  location  of  Israel  in  Goshen  is  like- 
wise a  most  natural  thing,  since  it  gave  them  both  a 
border-land  for  the  pasture  of  their  flocks  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  most  fertile  soil  of  the  Nile  Valley  for  their 
occupation.  At  the  same  time  that  it  would  strengthen 
the  reigning  dynasty  to  have  a  settlement  of  such  shep- 
herds in  Egj^pt,  it  was  good  policy  to  have  their  loca- 
tion where  they  would  be  least  likely  to  provoke  the 
envy  of  the  native  Egyptians. 

But  the  arrival  of  a  new  king  who  knew  not  Joseph 
points  clearly  to  the  change  of  dynasty  by  which  the 
Hyksos  were  expelled  from  Egypt.  The  native  dynasty 
which  came  into  power,  would  naturally  become  the 
oppressors  of  Israel.  The  description  of  this  oppres- 
sion, given  in  such  dramatic  language  in  the  book  of 


8o  Israel  in  Egypt. 

Exodus,  is  illustrated  in  the  most  lifelike  manner  by 
the  recent  discoveries  at  Pithom  and  Rameses. 

"  Exodus  i.  8  Now  there  arose  a  new  king  over 
Egypt,  who  knew  not  Joseph.  9  And  he  said  unto  his 
people,  Behold,  the  people  of  the  children  of  Israel  are 
more  and  mightier  than  we:  10  come,  let  us  deal  wisely 
with  them ;  lest  they  multiply,  and  it  come  to  pass,  that, 
when  there  falleth  out  any  war,  they  also  join  them- 
selves unto  our  enemies,  and  fight  against  us,  and  get 
them  up  out  of  the  land.  1 1  Therefore  they  did  set  over 
them  taskmasters  to  afflict  them  with  their  burdens. 
And  they  built  for  Pharaoh  store-cities,   Pithom   and 

Rameses 13  And  the  Egyptians  made  the  children 

of  Israel  to  serve  with  rigor:  14  and  they  made  their 
lives  bitter  with  hard  service,  in  mortar  and  in  brick, 
and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field,  all  their  ser- 
vice wherein  they  made  them  serve  with  rigor." 

"  V.  6  And  the  same  day  Pharaoh  commanded  the 
taskmasters  of  the  people  and  their  officers,  saying, 
7  Ye  shall  no  more  give  the  people  straw  to  make 
brick,  as  heretofore :  let  them  go  and  gather  straw  for 
themselves.  8  And  the  number  of  the  bricks,  which 
they  did  make  heretofore,  ye  shall  lay  upon  them :  ye 
shall  not  diminish  aught  thereof :  for  they  are  idle ; 
therefore  they  cry,  saying.  Let  us  go  and  sacrifice  to 
our  God.  9  Let  heavier  work  be  laid  upon  the  men, 
that  they  may  labor  therein ;  and  let  them  not  regard 
lying  words. 

"10     And  the  taskmasters  of  the  people  went  out. 


Israel  in  Egypt.  8 1 

and  their  officers,  and  they  spake  to  the  people,  saying, 
Thus  saith  Pharaoh,  I  will  not  give  you  straw.  1 1  Go 
yourselves,  get  you  straw  where  ye  can  find  it :  for 
nought  of  your  work  shall  be  diminished.  12  So  the 
people  were  scattered  abroad  throughout  all  the  land 
of  Egypt  to  gather  stubble  for  straw.  13  And  the 
taskmasters  were  urgent,  saying,  Fulfill  your  works, 
your  daily  tasks,  as  when  there  was  straw.  14  And 
the  offi.cers  of  the  children  of  Israel,  whom  Pharaoh's 
taskmasters  had  set  over  them,  were  beaten,  and  de- 
manded, Wherefore  have  ye  not  fulfilled  your  task 
both  yesterday  and  to-day,  in  making  brick  as  hereto- 
fore? 

"15  Then  the  officers  of  the  children  of  Israel 
came  and  cried  unto  Pharaoh,  saying.  Wherefore  deal- 
est thou  thus  with  thy  servants?  16  There  is  no  straw 
given  unto  thy  servants,  and  they  say  to  us,  Make 
brick;  and,  behold,  thy  servants  are  beaten;  but  the 
fault  is  in  thy  own  people.  17  But  he  said.  Ye  are 
idle,  ye  are  idle :  therefore  ye  say.  Let  us  go  and  sacri- 
fice to  Jehovah.  18  Go  therefore  now,  and  work;  for 
there  shall  no  straw  be  given  you,  yet  shall  ye  deliver 
the  number  of  bricks.  19  And  the  officers  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  did  see  that  they  were  in  evil  case, 
when  it  was  said,  Ye  shall  not  diminish  aught  from 
your  bricks,  your  daily  tasks." 

All  this  reads  like  a  genuine  excerpt  from  the 
straightforward  record  of  an  eye-witness.  It  is  a  cir- 
cumstance of  the  utmost  historical  interest  that  in  this 


82  Israel  in  Egypt. 

very  localitj^  there  have  been  found  storehouses,  of  that 
same  age,  conforming  in  every  particular  to  this  de- 
scription. In  1883  Edouard  Naville  unearthed  numer- 
ous such  storepits  at  Tel  el-Maskhuta,  on  the  border 
of  Goshen,  along  the  line  of  the  old  Fresh-water  Canal 
leading  from  the  delta  of  the  Nile  to  the  Gulf  of 
Suez.^  The  place  was  more  definitely  located  by 
inscriptions  as  Pi-Tum,  "  the  abode  of  Tum,"  cor- 
responding to  Pithom,  and  Thuket,  corresponding  to 
Succoth,  built  by  Rameses  II.  The  place  was  further 
identified  with  Heroopolis,  or  Ero,  of  classical  times; 
these  names  designating  them  as  containing  storehouses. 
Here  Naville  excavated  numerous  strongly  built 
treasure-chambers,  separated  by  brick  partitions  from 
eight  to  ten  feet  thick.  The  storehouses  occupied  al- 
most the  whole  extent  of  Pithom,  with  the  walls,  which 
were  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet  square,  and  twenty-two 
feet  thick.  In  the  walls  of  the  storehouses  could  be 
seen  the  several  courses  of  sun-baked  brick,  some  made 
with  straw  and  some  without  straw.  Such  a  newly 
discovered  conformity  between  the  Bible  account  and 
the  conditions  surrounding  these  cities  stamps  the  his- 
tory as  genuine.  The  story  has  not  been  tampered 
with  by  later  redactors. 


The  Exodus.  83 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  EXODUS. 

We  have  in  the  Pentateuch  the  records  of  four  start- 
ling events  which  are  peculiarly  open  to  scientific  cross- 
examination.  They  are :  ( i )  the  passage  of  the  Red 
Sea;  (2)  the  parting  of  the  Jordan;  (3)  the  destruc- 
tion of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah;  and  (4)  the  Noachian 
deluge.  These  we  will  now  test  hy  comparing  them 
with  the  physical  conditions  brought  to  light  by  recent 
investigations,  enabling  us  to  determine  the  extent  to 
which  the  accounts  have  been  vitiated,  if  at  all,  by 
the  imagination  of  reporters  or  copyists.  We  shall 
attempt  to  show  that  these  accounts  are  of  such  a 
striking  character,  and  are  so  connected  with  the  oper- 
ation of  profound,  and  until  recently  unknown,  laws 
of  nature,  that  the  imagination  of  later  times  could  not 
have  been  allowed  to  modify  them  without  introducing 
incongruous  and  impossible  elements.  If  it  shall  be 
found  that  the  statements  correspond  to  the  phenomena 
which,  according  to  modern  scientific  investigation, 
were  natural  to  the  places  and  the  occasions,  we  shall 
have  the  strongest  possible  confirmation  that  they  are 
the  reports  of  eye-witnesses  which  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  without  modification. 


84  The  Exodus. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  part  of  science  directly 'to 
prove  the  truth  of  these  fragmentary  bits  of  history ; 
they  are  to  be  believed  primarily  on  the  evidence  of 
the  documents  themselves.  All  that  science  can  say 
concerning  these  events  relates  merely  to  the  inherent 
probability  of  such  occurrences.  A  scientific  exami- 
nation of  the  physical  conditions  involved  in  the  state- 
ments will  be  of  service  merely  in  the  removal  of 
objections  which  may  be  raised  by  reason  of  our  ignor- 
ance of  those  conditions.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  these 
statements  of  startling  facts  do  not  make  extravagant 
demands  upon  our  beliefs  concerning  the  uniformity  of 
the  course  of  nature,  but  that  they  are  in  close  analogy 
with  the  operation  of  her  widely  known  laws,  we  shall 
have  gained  a  great  point  in  establishing  the  credibility 
of  the  narratives. 

Just  here  a  word  more  should  be  said  about  the 
miraculous  character  of  these  events;  and,  to  do  this,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  get  clearly  before  our  minds  what 
a  miracle  really  is,  and  what  are  its  relations  to  the 
course  of  nature. 

The  best  definition  of  nature  is  that  which  conceives 
of  it  simply  as  the  system  of  causally  connected  se- 
quences of  the  universe.  Thus  conceived,  the  free  wills 
both  of  man  and  of  the  Creator  are  forces  outside  of 
nature   having   the  mysterious  power  of  piercing   the 


The  Exodus.  85 

joints  of  this  harness  of  causally  connected  sequences, 
and  modifying  the  results  according  to  an  intelligent 
purpose.  IVIan  by  his  volition  brings  about  new  and 
unexplainable  combinations  of  natural  forces.  To  a 
limited  extent  he  changes  the  face  of  nature.  He  forms 
combinations  that  are  new,  and  produces  results  which 
are  extranatural.  Nature  herself  would  never  produce 
a  house,  or  build  a  railroad,  or  develop  domestic  plants 
and  animals.^ 

There  is  no  more  philosophical  difficulty  in  conceiv- 
ing of  God's  working  a  miracle  than  there  is  in  conceiv- 
ing of  man  as  producing  an  extranatural  effect  through 
his  control  and  combinations  of  natural  forces.     The 

difference  between  a  miracle  and  the  accomplishment  of 

» 
man's   free  will  lies  chiefly  in   the  magnitude  of  the 

events  and  the  extent  of  the  control  which  is  mani- 
fested. Man  is  limited  in  his  control  of  nature.  He 
can  leap  a  few  feet  into  the  air.  But  even  this  is  not 
a  natural  exhibition  of  power.  Mere  natural  forces 
would  forever  hold  him  to  the  ground.  It  is  through 
an  extranatural  combination  of  forces  that  man's  will 
instigates  and  secures  this  result.  But,  however  much 
he  may  will  it,  he  has  not  the  power,  in  the  present 
order  of  things,  to  leap  into  the  air  more  than  a  few 
feet.  He  has  not  such  control  of  forces  that  he  could 
leap  to  the  moon,  even  with  the  help  of  an  air-ship. 


86  The  Exodus. 

With  God,  however,  there  is  no  such  limitation  of 
power.  He  has  power  to  bring  about  results  which  are 
superhuman  as  well  as  supernatural.  And  while  we 
may  not  know  the  exact  limit  of  man's  power,  so  as 
strictly  to  define  the  sphere  of  the  superhuman,  and 
determine  the  boundary  beyond  which  the  modifica- 
tions of  nature  would  necessitate  divine  control,  and 
so  be  strictly  called  miraculous,  we  have  no  practical 
difficulty  in  setting  off  by  themselves  the  most  of  the 
facts  which  are  miraculous. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  specifying  as  miraculous 
such  facts,  for  example,  as  the  ascension  and  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  the  multipli- 
cation of  the  loaves  and  fishes,  the  stilling  of  the  tempest 
upon  the  sea,  and  the  changing  of  the  water  into  wine. 
Nor  should  we  question  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
strictly  miraculous  character  of  the  preservation  of 
Shadrach,  Aleshach,  and  Abed-nego  in  the  fiery  fur- 
nace, of  the  translation  of  Elijah,  of  the  descent  of  the 
fire  upon  Mount  Carmel  to  burn  the  sacrifices  w^hich 
had  been  laid  upon  the  altar,  and  of  many  other  in- 
stances which  it  is  not  necessary  to  name.  In  all  these 
the  facts  may  have  been  accomplished  through  the 
action  of  the  Divine  Will  in  making  new  combinations 
of  the  causally  connected  sequences  which  we  have 
given  as  the  definition  of  nature.     Still,  we  have  no 


The  Exodus.  87 

clue,  and  probably  can  never  have  any  clue,  to  the 
channels  through  which  the  Divine  Will  has  operated. 
But  the  class  of  facts  which  we  now  proceed  to  con- 
sider belongs  to  what  have  been  called  "  mediate  mira- 
cles." In  these  we  are  permitted  to  see  the  forces  which 
have  been  used,  and  to  judge  of  them  by  analogy, 
comparing  them  with  things  with  which  we  are  more 
or  less  familiar. 

PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED  SEA. 

One  of  the  best  opportunities  for  thus  testing  the 
truthfulness  of  an  extraordinary  historical  statement 
is  found  in  the  account  of  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea 
by  the  children  of  Israel.  The  story  is  remarkable  in 
every  respect,  and  not  the  least  in  the  way  it  puts  forth 
the  secondary  causes  through  which  the  way  was 
opened  for  the  deliverance  of  the  people.  In  a  litera- 
ture written  for  religious  purposes,  in  which  it  was 
both  natural  and  proper  to  throw  into  the  foreground 
the  direct  agency  of  God,  it  is  surprising  that  so  much 
emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  means  employed  by  the  Crea- 
tor. It  was  indeed  the  Lord  who  "  caused  the  sea  to 
go  back.",  But  he  did  it  "  by  a  strong  east  wind, 
which  blew  all  night,"  and  "  made  the  sea  dry  land." 
And  again,  in  the  song  which  recounts  the  event,  it 
was  by  the  "  blast  of  his  nostrils  "  that  the  waters  were 


88  The  Exodus. 

piled  up.     And  when  the  waters  came  back  to  over- 
whelm the  Egj'ptians  it  was  God  who  '.'  did  blow  with 
his  wind  that  the  sea  should  cover  them." 
The  whole  exquisite  passage  is  as  follows: — 

"  Exodus  xii.  37  And  the  children  of  Israel  jour- 
neyed from  Rameses  to  Succoth,  about  six  hundred 
thousand  on  foot  that  were  men,  besides  children. 
38  And  a  mixed  multitude  went  up  also  with  them; 
and  flocks,  and  herds,  even  very  much  cattle.  .  .  .  xiii. 
20  And  they  took  their  journey  from  Succoth,  and 
encamped  in  Etham,  in  the  edge  of  the  wilderness.  .  .  . 
xiv.  I  And  Jehovah  spake  unto  jVIoses,  saying,  2  Speak 
unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  turn  back  and 
encamp  before  Pi-hahiroth,  between  Migdol  and  the 
sea,  before  Baal-zephon :  over  against  it  shall  ye  en- 
camp by  the  sea.  3  And  Pharaoh  will  say  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  They  are  entangled  in  the  land,  the 
wilderness  hath  shut  them  in.  4  And  I  will  harden 
Pharaoh's  heart,  and  he  shall  follow  after  them;  and 
I  will  get  me  honor  upon  Pharaoh,  and  upon  all  his 
host ;  and  the  Egyptians  shall  know  that  I  am  Jehovah. 
And  they  did  so.  5  And  it  was  told  the  king  of  Egypt 
that  the  people  were  fled :  and  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  and 
of  his  servants  was  changed  towards  the  people,  and 
they  said,  What  is  this  we  have  done,  that  we  have 
let  Israel  go  from  serving  us?  6  And  he  made  ready 
his  chariot,  and  took  his  people  with  him :  7  and  he 
took  six  hundred  chosen  chariots,  and  all  the  chariots 
of  Egypt,  and  captains  over  all  of  them.     8  And  Jeho- 


The  Exodus.  89 

vah  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  king  of  Egj'pt,  and 
he  pursued  after  the  children  of  Israel:  for  the  children 
of  Israel  went  out  with  a  high  hand.  9  And  the 
Eg3'ptians  pursued  after  them,  all  the  horses  and  char- 
iots of  Pharaoh,  and  his  horsemen,  and  his  army,  and 
overtook  them  encamping  by  the  sea,  beside  Pi-hahiroth, 
before  Baal-zephon. 

"  10  And  when  Pharaoh  drew  nigh,  the  children  of 
Israel  lifted  up  their  eyes,  and,  behold,  the  Egyptians 
were  marching  after  them ;  and  they  were  sore  afraid : 
and  the  children  of  Israel  cried  out  unto  Jehovah.  .  .  . 
13  And  Moses  said  unto  the  people.  Fear  ye  not, 
stand  still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  Jehovah,  which  he 
will  work  for  you  to-day:  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye 
have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more  for 
ever.  14  Jehovah  will  fight  for  you,  and  j^e  shall 
hold  your  peace. 

"15  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Moses,  Wherefore 
criest  thou  unto  me?  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
that  they  go  forward.  16  And  lift  thou  up  thy  rod, 
and  stretch  out  thy  hand  over  the  sea,  and  divide  it : 
and  the  children  of  Israel  shall  go  into  the  midst  of 
the  sea  on  dry  ground.  ... 

"21  And  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the 
sea;  and  Jehovah  caused  the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong 
east  wind  all  the  night,  and  made  the  sea  dry  land,  and 
the  waters  were  divided.  22  And  the  children  of 
Israel  went  into  the  midst  of  the  sea  upon  the  dry 
ground :  and  the  waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their 


90  The  Exodus, 

right  hand,  and  on  their  left.  23  And  the  Egyptians 
pursued,  and  went  in  after  them  into  the  midst  of  the 
sea,  all  Pharaoh's  horses,  his  chariots,  and  his  horse- 
men. 24  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  morning  watch, 
that  Jehovah  looked  forth  upon  the  host  of  the  Eg>"p- 
tians  through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  cloud,  and  discom- 
fited the  host  of  the  Egj-ptians.  25  And  he  took  off 
their  chariot  wheels,  and  they  drove  them  heavily;  so 
that  the  Egyptians  said,  Let  us  flee  from  the  face  of 
Israel ;  for  Jehovah  fighteth  for  them  against  the 
Egyptians. 

"  26  And  Jehovah  said  unto  !Moses,  Stretch  out  thy 
hand  over  the  sea,  that  the  waters  may  come  again  upon 
the  Eg5'ptians,  upon  their  chariots,  and  upon  their 
horsemen.  27  And  Moses  stretched  forth  his  hand 
over  the  sea,  and  the  sea  returned  to  its  strength  when 
the  morning  appeared ;  and  the  Egyptians  fled  against 
it ;  and  Jehovah  overthrew  the  Egj'ptians  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea.  28  And  the  waters  returned,  and  covered  the 
chariots,  and  the  horsemen,  even  all  the  host  of  Pha- 
raoh that  went  in  after  them  into  the  sea;  there  re- 
mained not  so  much  as  one  of  them.  29  But  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  walked  upon  dry  land  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea ;  and  the  waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their 
right  hand,  and  on  their  left.  30  Thus  Jehovah  saved 
Israel  that  day  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians ;  and 
Israel  saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  seashore. 
31  And  Israel  saw  the  great  work  which  Jehovah  did 
upon  the  Egyptians,  and  the  people  feared  Jehovah ; 
and  they  believed  in  Jehovah,  and  in  his  servant  Closes. 


The  Exodus.  91 

"  XV.    I    Then    sang    Moses   and    the   children   of 
Israel  this  song  unto  Jehovah,  and  spake,  saying, 
"  I  will  sing  unto  Jehovah,  for  he  hath  triumphed 
gloriously : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the 
sea. 

2  Jehovah  is  my  strength  and  song, 
And  he  is  become  my  salvation : 

This  is  my  God,  and  I  will  praise  him; 
My  father's  God,  and  I  will  exalt  him. 

3  Jehovah  is  a  man  of  war : 
Jehovah  is  his  name. 

4  Pharaoh's  chariots  and  his  host  hath  he  cast  into 

the  sea; 
And  his  chosen  captains  are  sunk  in  the  Red  Sea. 

5  The  deeps  cover  them : 

They  went  down  into  the  depths  like  a  stone. 

6  Thy  right  hand,  O  Jehovah,  is  glorious  in  power, 
Thy  right  hand,  O  Jehovah,  dasheth  in  pieces 

the  enemy. 

7  And  in  the  greatness  of  thine  excellency,  thou 

overthrowest    them    that    rise    up  against 
thee: 
Thou  sendest  forth  thy  wrath,  it  consumeth  them 
as  stubble. 

8  And  with  the  blast  of  thy  nostrils  the  waters  were 

piled  up. 
The  floods  stood  upright  as  a  heap 
The  deeps  were  congealed  in  the  heart  of  the  sea. 

9  The  enemy  said, 


92  The   Exodus. 

I  will  pursue,  I  will  overtake,  I  will  divide  the 

spoil ; 
My  desire  shall  be  satisfied  upon  them; 
I   will   draw  my  sword,   my  hand   shall   destroy 

them ; 

10  Thou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind,  the  sea  covered 

them: 
They  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty  waters. 

11  Who  is  like  unto  thee,    O  Jehovah,   among  the 

gods  ? 
Who  is  like  thee,  glorious  in  holiness, 
Fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders? 

12  Thou  stretchest  out  thy  right  hand. 
The  earth  swallowed  them. 

13  Thou  in  thy  loving  kindness  hath  led  the  people 

that  thou  hast  redeemed : 
Thou  hast   guided  them   in   thy  strength   to   thy 
holy  habitation. 

14  The  peoples  have  heard,  they  tremble: 

Pangs  have  taken  hold  on  the  inhabitants  of  Phi- 
listia. 

15  Then  were  the  chiefs  of  Edom  dismayed; 

The  mighty  men  of  Moab,  trembling  taketh  hold 

upon  them: 
All  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  are  melted  away. 

16  Terror  and  dread  falleth  upon  them ; 

By  the  greatness  of  thine  arm  they  are  as  still  as 

a  stone; 
TiE  thy  people  pass  over,  O  Jehovah, 
Till  thy  people  pass  over  that  thou  hast  purchased. 


The  Exodus.  93 

17  Thou  wilt  bring  them  in,  and  plant  them  in  the 

mountain  of  thine  inheritance, 
The  place,  O  Jehovah,  which  thou  hast  made  for 

thee  to  dwell  in, 
The  sanctuary,   O  Lord,   which   thy  hands  have 

established. 

18  Jehovah  shall  reign  forever  and  ever. 

"19  For  the  horses  of  Pharaoh  went  in  with  his 
chariots  and  with  his  horsemen  into  the  sea,  and  Jeho- 
vah brought  back  the  waters  of  the  sea  upon  them ;  but 
the  children  of  Israel  walked  on  dry  land  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea.  20  And  Miriam  the  prophetess,  the  sister 
of  Aaron,  took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand,  and  all  the  wo- 
men went  out  after  her  with  timbrels  and  with  dances. 
21   And  Miriam  answered  them, 

"  Sing  ye  to  Jehovah,  for  he  hath  triumphed  glor- 
iously ; 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the 
sea. 

In  much  of  the  popular  comment  upon  this  account 
of  the  sacred  writer,  intervention  of  secondary  agencies 
has  not  been  properly  noticed.  But,  clearly,  we  are 
not  at  liberty  to  interpret  it  without  giving  due  weight 
to  the  repeated  mention  of  the  secondary  causes  said 
to  be  employed  by  the  Creator  in  the  production  of  the 
phenomena.  The  Lord  opened  the  sea  before  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  but  he  used  the  wind  as  his  instrument. 
This  is  expressly  and   repeatedly  said.     But,  on   the 


94  The  Exodus. 

principle  that  whatever  a  person  does  through  an  in- 
strument he  does  himself,  this  work  is  none  the  less  the 
Lord's  than  if  he  had  done  it  directlj',  without  any 
intervening  secondary  cause.  Such  reference  to  the 
secondary  agency  by  which  the  event  was  brought 
about  invites  us  to  an  examination  of  the  physical  con- 
ditions in  which  such  a  cause  would  produce  the  given 
result.  In  the  plainest  manner,  therefore,  it  opens  itself 
up  to  scientific  inquiry. 

Physical  Conditions  North  of  Suez. — The  Gulf  of 
Suez  ends  in  a  narrow  point  of  shallow  water,  extend- 
ing a  few  miles  north  of  the  city.  The  junction  of 
this  inlet  with  the  main  gulf  is  partially  obstructed  by 
a  narrow  bar,  which  is  almost  out  of  the  water  at  cer- 
tain stages  of  what  may  be  called  the  tide, — though  it 
is  not  a  real  tide  which  affects  the  depth  of  the  water, 
but,  as  is  now  well  known,  the  wind.  It  was  the  sur- 
mise of  Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  who  has  been  followed 
by  many  others,  that  the  place  of  the  crossing  was  at 
Suez,  and  that  this  bar  was  the  bridge  by  which  it 
was  effected  at  low  water.  But  the  bar  is  so  narrow 
that  it  would  be  more  of  a  miracle  to  get  the  host  of 
Israel  across  in  the  time  allotted  than  it  would  be  to 
disperse  the  waters  which  submerge  it. 

More  careful  study  of  the  situation,  and  the  increas- 
ing light  shed  upon  it  by  geological  investigations,  have 


The  Exodus.  95 

tended  to  shift  the  scene  a  few  miles  farther  northward, 
where  conditions  are  found  which  comport  equally  well 
with  the  position  into  which  the  Israelites  were  brought 
by  their  three-days'  march,  and  at  the  same  time  reveal 
other  conditions  perfectly  fitted  to  account  for  the 
whole  transaction. 

The  shallow  inlet  projecting  northward  from  Suez 
really  occupies  the  lower  part  of  a  narrow  depression, 
or  we  may  call  it  channel  (several  miles  of  which  are 
now  dry),  extending  through  to  the  Bitter  Lakes,  and 
thence  on  up  to  Lake  Timsah,  on  which  is  the  present 
city  of  Ismailia,  which  probably  occupies  the  site  of 
the  Etham  of  biblical  timies.  The  Suez  Canal  has  taken 
advantage  of  this  prolonged  depression,  and  been  able, 
by  a  shallow  open  cut  through  rock,  which  is  at  the 
highest  point  (near  Chaloof)  twenty-seven  feet  above 
sea-level,  to  connect  the  Gulf  of  Suez  with  the  largest 
of  the  Bitter  Lakes.  Following  this  lake  to  its  north- 
ern end,  another  cut  through  land,  which  is  at  Serapeum 
thirty  feet  above  sea-level,  brings  it  to  Ismailia,  upon 
the  northern  end  of  Lake  Timsah.  Just  north  of  this 
point  occurs  the  deepest  cut  for  the  canal  through  a 
land  surface,  which  is  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet  above 
sea-level,  and  has  been  the  passageway  between  Africa 
and  Asia  used  by  caravans  and  armies  for  thousands  of 
years.     Soon    after    leaving    this    last    cut,    the    canal 


The  Exodus.  97 

reaches  the  shallows  of  Lake  Menzaleh,  which  stretch 
on  the  east  to  Pelusium,  and  a  little  beyond  merge  into 
the  famous  Serbonian  Bog. 

It  thus  appears  that  a  subsidence  of  the  land  to  the 
extent  of  a  little  more  than  thirty  feet  would  cause  the 
water  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez  to  extend  to  Ismailia,  and 
still  leave  the  old  land  passage  between  Asia  and  Africa 
forty  or  fifty  feet  above  sea-level,  and  would  cover  the 
highest  places  at  Serapeum  and  Chaloof  to  a  depth  of 
only  a  few  feet. 

That  there  was  such  a  depression  in  recent  times  is 
clear  from  both  direct  and  indirect  evidence.  During 
the  present  geological  epoch  the  whole  region  around 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  has  risen 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Indubitable  evi- 
dence of  this  may  be  seen  near  the  summit  of  the  iso- 
lated eroded  cliff  known  to  the  Arabs  as  Het  el-Orab, 
or  the  Crow's  Nest,  about  half  a  mile  south  of  the 
pyramids  at  Gizeh,  which  is  about  the  same  level  with 
the  pyramid  plateau,  approximately  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea.  Here  there  is  a  clearly  defined  recent 
sea-beach,  composed  of  well-worn  pebbles,  from  an 
inch  or  two  to  a  foot  in  diameter,  the  interstices  of 
which  are  filled  with  small  oyster-shells,  loosely  cement- 
ed together.  A  collection  which  the  writer  personally 
made  of  these  shells,  submitted  to  Dr.  F.  L.  Kitchin, 


98 


The  Exodus. 


':^  flS*^' 


General   View   of  the   Crow's   Nest,   from  the  Pyramids. 

of  the  British  Geological  Survey,  were  pronounced  to 
be  indistinguishable  from  Alectryotiia  cucullata.  Born, 
a  variable  form  which  occurs  in  Pliocene  deposits  and 
also  lives  at  the  present  day  in  the  Red  Sea.  This  sea- 
beach  was  first  discovered  by  Dr.  Oscar  Fraas,  and  has 
been  described  by  Schweinfurth  and  Dawson.  These 
observers  noticed,  also,  that  the  face  of  the  plateau  had 
been  pierced  by  lithodomus  mollusks  {Pholades  rugosa, 
Broc.)  and  reported  shells  of  Ostrea  undata,  Goldf., 
and  Pec  ten  Dunkri,  Ma^^ 

Another  locality  where  similar  evidence  occurs  is  at 
the  base  of  the  Mokattam  Hills,  upon  the  opposite  side 


The  Exodus. 


99 


Near  View  of  the  Raised  Beach  on  the  Crow's  Nest. 


of  the  Nile  from  the  pyramids.  Concerning  this,  Pro- 
fessor Edward  Hull,  in  his  "  Memoir  on  the  Geology 
and  Geography  of  Arabia  Petrasa,  Palestine,  and  Ad- 
joining Districts,"  saj's: — 

"  It  was  first  recognized  by  Fraas,  and  more  recently 
examined  by  Schweinfurth,  who  pointed  out  the  traces 
of  the  ancient  shore-line  to  the  author  on  the  occasion 
of  our  visit  to  Cairo  in  November,  1883.  On  ascend- 
ing the  Alokattam  Hills  towards  Gebel  el  Ahmar,  we 


lOO  The  Exodus. 

pass  over  a  tract  of  undulating  ground,  and  reach  the 
line  of  the  railway  from  Abbasieh,  and  here  it  is  said 
that  our  observations  commence.  We  discover,  from 
certain  openings,  that  the  ground  is  formed  of  beds  of 
purple  and  yellow  sand  and  fine  gravel,  a  little  marl 
and  clay,  with  specimens  and  fragments  of  Terebratula 
( T.  for  scat  a),  Ostrea  (O.  cucullataj  Born)^  Pecten, 
and  Balanus — shells  or  species  of  which  do  not  occur 
in  the  Eocene  limestone  formation.  On  crossing  the 
railway  and  ascending  towards  the  limestone  cliffs,  we 
observe  that  the  rock  is  penetrated  by  numerous  borings 
of  Teredo,  though  the  shell  is  seldom  left  in  the  per- 
foration. We  are  here  evidently  standing  on  the 
ancient  sea-margin,  and  at  an  elevation  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  above  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  Seas. 
The  presence  of  the  beach  has  been  detected  in  other 
places  along  the  hills  by  Dr.  Schweinfurth,  and  the 
Teredo  borings  have  also  been  observed  by  him  in  the 
limestone  platform  on  which  is  built  the  IVIosque  of 
Mehemet  Ali  "  (p.  71).- 

Near  Jaffa  there  is  another  typical  deposit  of  the 
same  period,  described  by  Hull  as  follows: — 

"  The  raised  sea-bed  stretches  far  inland  from  Jaffa, 
and  is  noticed  by  Lartet.  It  may  be  traced  along  the 
Jerusalem  road  to  beyond  Ramleh  and  Lydda  (Ludd). 
At  Jaffa  the  shelly  sands  rest  on  the  more  ancient  sand- 
stone which  forms  the  foundation  of  the  city,  and  sup- 
plies the  copious  springs  of  water  necessary  for  the 
irrigation   of  the  extensive  orange  and   lemon   groves 


The  Exodus.  lOl 

which  are  so  justly  celebrated  for  their  abundant  and 
excellent  quality;  but  farther  inland  about  Ramleh, 
this  fine  sand  and  gravel  gives  place  to  beds  of  calca- 
reous conglomerate,  formed  of  limestone  pebbles  of  all 
size,  and  well  water-worn.  This  is  undoubtedly  an 
ancient  sea-beach,  which  appears  to  rise  to  a  level  of 
considerably  over  two  hundred  feet,  formed  at  a  time 
when  the  waters  of  the  sea  extended  over  twelve  miles 
beyond  their  present  limits.  In  these  beds  M.  Lartet 
has  noticed  the  following  species:  Pectuncidus  violas- 
cens,  Lamk. ;  Purpura  hemastoma,  Lamk.,  Murex 
brandaris,  Linn.,  Columbella  rusticaj  Lamk.,  etc.  By 
far  the  most  abundant  shell  is  that  first  named,  and  it 
is  still  the  most  abundant  on  the  adjoining  Mediter- 
ranean shore"   (pp.  74-75). 

Still  another  locality  where  the  evidence  is  beyond 
question  is  at  Lattakia,  about  thirty  miles  north  of 
Beirut.  According  to  the  description  of  Rev.  George 
Post,  M.D.,  Professor  in  the  American  College  at 
Beirut,  Syria, — 

"  Beds  of  sea-shells  and  corals  now  living  in  the  Aledi- 
terranean  occur  at  elevations  chiefly  between  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  sea ;  but  they  are  also  found  more  sparingly  at  even 
higher  levels.  The  principal  locality  where  these  shells 
have  been  observed  is  in  a  valley  near  the  village  of 
Qutrujeh,  in  a  mass  of  unsolidified  clay,  which  is  ex- 
tremelv  full  both  of  shells  and  corals."^ 


I02 


The  Exodus. 


Map  showing,  in  the  shaded  portion,  the  effect  in  Lower 
Egypt  of  a  continental  depression  of  300  feet.  The  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Dead  Sea  was  an  indirect  result.  See  pages  313 
and   314. 

Similar  accumulations  of  recent  shells  are,  according 
to  Hull,  found  upon  the  island  of  Cyprus,  on 
"  the  broad  terrace  which  stretches  along  Larnika  Bay, 
bounded   inland   by   a   line   of   white   limestone   cliffs. 


The  Exodus.  103 

This  terrace  is  also  an  old  sea-bed,  and  the  cliffs  formed 
the  coast-line  which  was  washed  by  the  waves  at  a 
time  when  the  land  was  submerged.  These  raised  sea- 
beds  have  been  described  by  Mr.  R.  Russell,  who 
recognizes  in  them  shells  of  species  now  living  in  the 
adjoining  waters  of  the  Mediterranean"   (p.  76). 

Thus,  as  Professor  Hull  remarks, — 

"  it  will  be  seen  that  all  along  the  coast  of  the  Levant, 
from  Eg3^pt,  by  Palestine,  Syria,  and  extending  to  the 
Island  of  Cyprus,  there  are  indications  that  at  a  period, 
so  recent  that  the  shells  and  corals  are  still  living,  the 
land  has  been  submerged  to  a  depth  of  from  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Dur- 
ing this  period  Africa  was  an  island,  and  the  waters 
of  the  Mediterranean  stretched  southwards  into  the 
Red  Sea"  (p.  76). 

Evidence  of  this  depression  is  also  seen  m  the  fact 
that  the  isthmus  between  Suez  and  the  Bitter  Lakes 
is  covered  with  recent  deposits  of  Nile  mud,  holding 
modern  Red-Sea  shells,  showing  that,  at  no  very  dis- 
tant date,  there  was  an  overflow  of  the  Nile  through 
an  eastern  branch  into  this  slightly  depressed  level. 
The  line  of  this  branch  of  the  Nile  overflow  was  in 
early  times  used  for  a  canal,  which  has  recently  been 
reopened  to  furnish  fresh  water  to  Suez,  and  the  de- 
pression is  followed  by  the  railroad.* 

It  is  now  more  than  three  thousand  years  since  the 


104 


The  Exodus. 


date  of  the  Exodus;  so  that  the  results  required  for  the 
explanation  of  our  problem  would  be  produced  by  a 


Conglomerate  Knob  in  Desert  North  of  Suez. 
This  characteristic  knob,  left  by  ancient  erosion  of  the  plain 
in  front  of  Jebel  Geneffeh,  is  only  about  200  feet  above  the 
plain.  It  was  impossible  to  get  photographs  of  Jebel  Genef- 
feh which  would  be  worthy  of  reproduction.  This  one  was 
taken  from  the  plain  where  we  supposed  the  children  of  Israel 
encamped  (see  photograph  on  page  109),  looking  northwest- 
ward, in  which  direction  the  precipitous  front  of  Jebel  Genef- 
feh, with  Migdol  between  it  and  the  Bitter  Lakes,  both  rising 
from  1,000  to  1,500  feet  above  the  sea,  were  in  the  background, 
while  to  the  southwest  Jebei  Attaka  closed  in  the  view  in 
that  direction. 


The  Exodus.  105 

rate  of  change  in  level  with  which  geologists  are  per- 
fectly familiar.  Indeed,  the  best-informed  members  of 
our  United  States  Geological  Survey  maintain  that 
the  changes  of  level  about  our  Great  Lakes  of  North 
America  are  such  that  in  three  thousand  years  a  part 
of  the  water  which  is  now  pouring  over  Niagara  will 
be  diverted,  by  a  natural  flow,  into  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley.^ To  the  geologist,  therefore,  the  supposition  which 
we  are  making  is  of  the  most  commonplace  and  reason- 
able order.  It  is  such  a  supposition  as  geologists  are 
constantly  and  confidently  making  for  the  solution  of 
the  most  insignificant  problems  which  are  presented  to 
them.  How  much  more  is  it  legitimate  to  use  it  in 
explanation  of  historical  statements  so  strongly  cred- 
ited as  are  these  in  the  book  of  Exodus! 

Now,  the  supposed  depression  of  thirty  or  thirty- 
five  feet,  existing,  three  thousand  j^ears  ago,  over  the 
eastern  border  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  would  cause 
the  water  of  the  Red  Sea  to  extend  northward  through 
the  narrow  valley  which,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
physical  geography,  is  a  continuation  of  the  Gulf  of 
Suez;  so  that  there  would  be  a  continuous  line  of  un- 
fordable  water  as  far  north  as  Etham.  But,  for  a 
distance  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  between  Suez  and  the 
Bitter  Lakes,  the  average  depth  of  the  water  would  be 
about  five  feet,  a  depth  which  could  be  easily  reduced 


io6  The  Exodus. 

to  nothing  by  the  strong  east  wind  spoken  of  in  the 
biblical  account. 

Effect  of  Wind  upon  Water-Leveh. — The  facts 
about  the  effect  of  wind  upon  water-levels  have  al- 
ways been  more  or  less  known,  but  recent  observations 
place  them  now  in  a  clearer  light  than  they  have  ever 
been  seen  before.''  Among  the  most  conclusive  and 
satisfactory  sets  of  observations  upon  this  point  are 
those  which  have  been  made  by  the  officers  of  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey  upon  the  effect  of  wind 
upon  water-levels  in  Lake  Erie.  This  lake  is  about 
tvv^o  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  and  its  axis,  run- 
ning nearly  northeast  by  southwest,  is  in  line  with  that 
of  the  prevailing  storms  of  the  region.  Now%  it  re- 
peatedly occurs  that  a  strong  wind  from  the  southwest 
lowers  the  water  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  which  lies  at  the 
western  end  of  the  lake,  to  the  extent  of  seven  or  eight 
feet,  while  it  piles  it  up  to  the  same  extent  at  Buffalo, 
New  York,  which  lies  at  the  eastern  end.  A  shifting 
of  the  wind  from  southwest  to  northeast  produces 
the  opposite  effect,  lowering  the  water  at  Buffalo  and 
piling  it  up  at  Toledo,  thus  making,  oftentimes  within 
a  short  period,  a  difference  of  between  fourteen  and 
fifteen  feet  in  the  depth  of  the  water  of  these  two 
ports. 

Major-General  Tulloch,'    of  the  British   army,   re- 


The  Exodus.  107 

ported  that  while  assigned  to  duty  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Suez  he  witnessed  the  driving-off  of  the  water  from 
the  eastern  end  of  Lake  Menzaleh  by  the  wind  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  lower  the  level  six  feet.  Accord- 
ing to  the  map  of  the  Suez  Canal  Company,  the  dif- 
ference between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  water-level 
at  Suez  is  ten  feet  and  seven  inches,  which,  since  there 
is  no  tide  in  the  Red  Sea,  must  be  due  to  the  effect  of 
the  winds. 

It  would  take  far  less  than  a  tornado  to  lower  the 
water  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Red  Sea  sufficiently 
to  lay  bare  the  shallow  channel  which  we  have  supposed 
to  have  connected  the  Gulf  of  Suez  with  the  Bitter 
Lakes,  permitting  any  number  of  an  organized  host  to 
cross  to  the  other  side.  The  advantage  of  this  theory 
respecting  the  place  of  crossing,  over  that  of  Dr.  Robin- 
son, is  that  the  gap  is  here  so  broad  that  the  numbers 
mentioned  in  Exodus  could  be  easily  taken  across  in  a 
few  hours,  since  the  distance  would  be  no  more  than 
two  or  three  miles,  and  the  channel  could  be  crossed 
anywhere  along  a  line  ten  miles  in  length.^ 

Turning  again  to  the  biblical  account,  we  find  that 
everything  readily  fits  into  this  situation.  At  that  time, 
the  court  of  the  Pharaohs  was  held  at  Zoan,  about 
thirty  miles  northwest  of  Etham,  and  about  the  same 
distance  northeast  of  Rameses,  the  point  from  which  the 


io8  The  Exodus. 

children  of  Israel  set  out  upon  their  eventful  journey. 
As  their  course  from  Rameses  was  eastward  along  the 
line  of  the  Fresh-water  Canal,  and  their  first  camping- 
place,  Succoth,  a  distance  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles, 
their  next  camping-place  was  Etham,  which,  as  already 
remarked,  was  probably  near  the  present  Ismailia,  at 
the  head  of  what  was  then  the  northern  projection  of 
the  Gulf  of  Suez. 

The  Place  of  the  Crossing. — So  far  they  had  not  got 
beyond  the  reach  of  a  flank  movement  by  Pharaoh's 
army,  that  might  cut  across  the  desert  and  readily  in- 
tercept them  on  the  main  road  to  Palestine.  But  at  this 
point  there  was  a  most  remarkable  and  apparently  fool- 
ish and  suicidal  diversion  of  the  Israelites  from  their 
onward  course.  Leaving  the  regular  road  to  the  Prom- 
ised Land,  they  were,  by  divine  direction,  turned  south- 
ward, and  reached  a  camp  which  is  described  as  "  before 
Pi-hahiroth,  between  ]\Iigdol  and  the  sea,  before  Baal- 
zephon."  The  exact  locality  of  this  camp  cannot  be 
determined,  but  every  condition  suits  the  description  a 
little  over  a  day's  march  south  of  Ismailia,  on  the  wTst 
side  of  the  Bitter  Lakes.  Here  there  is  a  mountain 
prominence,  admirably  conforming  to  the  signification 
of  the  word  "  Migdol,"  upon  the  west,  which  sepa- 
rates a  narrow,  level  margin  along  the  Bitter  Lakes 
from    the    wilderness,    which    stretches   westward    to 


The  Exodus. 


109 


View  of  Jebel  Attaka,  from  the  Vicinity  of  Pi-hahiroth. 

This  view  shows  the  plain  on  which  the  children  of  Israel 
probably  encamped  the  day  previous  to  the  crossing  at  Cha- 
loof.  (See  map  on  page  96.)  The  vegetation  in  the  imme- 
diate foreground  springs  up  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Fresh- 
water Canal,  which  is  immediately  in  the  rear.  This  plain 
is  covered  with  sand  and  gravel  utterly  devoid  of  vegetation, 
but  showing  marks  of  floods,  produced  by  occasional  cloud- 
bursts, which  have  gradually  washed  the  material  down  the 
gentle  slope  from  the  mountains  in  the  background  to  the 
axis  of  depression  occupied  by  the  canal.  In  the  vicinity  of 
this  axis  of  depression  recent  shells  are  found,  while  they  are 
reported  upon  the  flanks  of  Jebel  Attaka  up  to  an  elevation  of 
200  or  300  feet.  From  this  point  one  has  an  excellent  view  of  a 
picturesque  mountain  range  upon  the  east,  the  northern  por- 
tion of  which  may  well  correspond  to  Baal-zephon. 


no  The  Exodus. 

Cairo.  There  Is  also  a  mountain  clearly  visible  east  of 
the  lakes  which  may  well  mark  the  site  of  Baal-zephon. 
So  clear  is  the  atmosphere,  and  so  short  are  the  dis- 
tances, in  that  region,  that  one  traveling  along  the  line 
of  the  railroad  from  Rameses  to  Etham  can  distinctly 
see  both  this  tower-like  projection  of  Jebel  Geneffeh, 
about  fifteen  miles  away,  and  the  peak  of  Jebel  Attaka, 
rising  to  a  height  of  several  thousand  feet,  just  back 
of  Suez,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  farther.  No  descrip- 
tion could  better  fit  the  conditions  than  that  which  is 
put,  by  the  sacred  writer,  into  the  mouth  of  Pharaoh : 
"  They  are  entangled  in  the  land,  the  wilderness  hath 
shut  them  in."  From  a  military  point  of  view,  no 
move  could  have  been  more  foolhardy  than  that  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  marching  southward  between  the 
perpendicular  face  of  the  monoclinal  ridge  of  Jebel 
Geneffeh,  on  the  west,  and  the  projecting  arm  of  the 
Red  Sea,  upon  the  east.  From  such  a  pocket,  escape 
could  be  nothing  less  than  miraculous.  There  was 
only  this  advantage,  that  they  were  temporarily  pro- 
tected from  attack  upon  either  flank,  while  their  rear 
guard  was  compelled  to  defend  only  a  narrow  field. 

The  judgment  of  Pharaoh  that  the  children  of  Israel 
were  entangled  in  the  land,  that  the  wilderness  had 
shut  them  in,  strongly  supports  our  theory  that  at  that 
time  the  Gulf  of  Suez  extended  up  to  the  Bitter  Lakes; 


The  Exodus.  Ill 

for,  how  else  could  it  have  shut  them  in,  except  that 
there  was  water  to  the  east  of  them  a  single  day's  jour- 
ney from  Etham? 

Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  and  others  would  place  the 
fourth  encampment  of  the  children  of  Israel  some  dis- 
tance north  of  the  present  southerly  extension  of  the 
larger  of  the  Bitter  Lakes.  But  this  is  by  no  means 
necessary,  and  does  not  fit  the  situation  so  well  as  does 
the  locality  a  few  miles  farther  south,  opposite  what  is 
now  the  dry  portion  of  the  old  arm  of  the  gulf, 
which  was,  as  we  have  supposed,  then  covered  with 
shallow  water.  In  making  this  supposition,  no  vio- 
lence is  done  to  the  text  of  scripture  or  to  the  necessities 
of  the  case.  A  vast  army  like  the  hosts  of  Israel  at  that 
time  cannot  encamp  in  one  particular  point,  but  are 
necessarily  spread  over  a  considerable  territory.  And 
we  are  not  shut  of¥  from  supposing  that,  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  their  camp,  they  had  time  to  move  to  the  more 
commodious  and  open  plain  that  lies  about  half  way 
between  the  Bitter  Lakes  and  Suez. 

We  are  bound  to  state,  however,  that  Naville,  Ebers, 
Poole,  De  Lesseps,  and  some  others,  while  in  general 
favoring  the  views  here  presented,  would  place  the 
crossing  at  Serapeum,  between  the  great  Bitter  Lake 
and  Lake  Timsah.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  nearly 
all  the  arguments  in  favor  of  Chaloof  would  apply  to 


112  The  Exodus. 

that  locality.  But  the  distance  from  Etham  and  the 
position  of  Mount  Geneffeh  favor  Chaloof.  The  main 
arguments  of  this  chapter,  however,  would  apply  to 
either  locality. 

Supposing  the  children  of  Israel  to  be  in  this  position, 
with  Jebel  Geneffeh  on  the  west,  Jebel  Attaka  and  the 
Gulf  of  Suez  on  the  south,  the  shallow  projecting  arm 
of  Suez  separating  them  from  the  wilderness,  on  the 
east,  and  pressed,  on  the  rear,  by  the  advance  guard  of 
Pharaoh's  army,  the  situation  would  seem  to  be  desper- 
ate. It  was  not  within  the  reach  of  the  human  mind,  at 
that  time,  nor  would  it  be  at  the  present  time,  to  calcu- 
late upon  the  deliverance  which  came.  Not  only  were 
the  forces  of  nature  which  were  employed  to  effect  it  be- 
yond the  power  of  human  control,  but  their  action  was 
beyond  reach  of  human  foresight.  It  was,  however, 
revealed  to  ^Vloses  that  the  waters  should  recede,  and  a 
way  of  escape  be  opened ;  and  we  are  told  that  "  Jeho- 
vah caused  the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong  east  wind  all 
the  night,  and  made  the  sea  dry  land,  and  the  waters 
were  divided." 

We  have  already  given  in  detail  the  effect  of  a 
strong  wind  in  lowering  the  level  of  the  narrow  body 
of  water  over  which  it  blows.  No  situation  better 
adapted  for  the  full  effect  of  winds,  in  producing  a 
change  of   water-level,    could   be   imagined   than   was 


The  Exodus.  113 

found  here.  Even  should  we  feel  compelled  to  inter- 
pret strictly  the  word  "  east,"  the  contour  of  the  shore  is 
such  that  the  resultant  of  the  forces  w^ould  be  to  move 
the  whole  body  of  water  from  the  head  of  the  gulf  inta 
the  broader  and  deeper  portions  to  the  south,  thus  lay- 
ing bare  a  broad  isthmus  over  which  an  immense  or- 
ganized host  could  pass  in  a  few  hours'  marching. 

A  Mediate  Miracle. — In  analyzing  the  miracle, 
we  need  not  trouble  ourselves  with  the  task  of  deter- 
mining the  exact  point  at  which  the  immediate  agency 
of  God  enters  into  the  chain  of  natural  causes  to  direct 
their  action  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  specific  pur- 
pose. Some  would  prefer  to  think  of  this  physical  phe- 
nomenon as  foreordained  from  eternity,  the  causes 
which  would  lead  to  it  having  been  incorporated  into 
the  original  creation.  But  even  then  we  cannot  regard 
as  accidental  the  conjunction  of  this  foreordained  effect 
with  the  operations  of  the  children  of  Israel  on  this 
particular  day.  It  was  by  divine  forethought  that  the 
line  of  march  of  the  children  of  Israel  led  them  to  this 
point  at  that  particular  time,  and  that  Moses  was  able 
to  inspire  them  with  confidence  to  take  up  their  march 
when  he  should  stretch  out  his  rod  over  the  retiring 
waters.  Such  a  conjunction  of  the  action  of  vast  phys- 
ical forces  coming  to  the  relief  of  a  people  in  their  dire 
necessity  has  in  it  all  the  marks  of  design  which  the 


114  The  Exodus. 

human  mind  needs  to  connect  the  event  directly  with 
the  will  of  God. 

But  we  are  not  shut  up  to  this  single  explanation  of 
God's  relation  to  the  event.  The  men  of  science  have 
no  formula  by  which  they  can  eliminate  God  from 
direct  activity  in  so  controlling  the  forces  of  nature  as 
to  bring  about  new  combinations  and  new  results,  as 
the  exigencies  of  history  and  the  action  of  man's  free 
will  may  require.  It  is  as  easy  for  God,  and  no  more  in- 
consistent with  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
that  he  should  start  a  storm  which  should  be  far- 
reaching  in  its  influence,  as  that  a  man  should  blow 
with  a  bellows  to  dust  his  mantel  or  kindle  his  fire. 
Science  has  no  final  word  for  the  question  which  here 
meets  us.  This  strong  east  wind  may  have  been  as 
directly  aroused  for  this  occasion  as  is  the  puff  of  our 
own  breath  with  which  we  warm  our  fingers  or  cool 
our  porridge.  In  both  cases  the  action  of  the  powers 
of  nature  is  modified  and  diverted  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  specific  purposes  which  nature  alone  would 
not  have  accomplished. 

Interpretation  of  the  Rhetorical  Language. — We 
cannot  leave  this  subject,  however,  without  alluding  to 
some  objections  which  may  be  obviated  by  attention  to 
correct  principles  of  interpretation.  It  is  said  ( Ex.  xiv. 
22)  that  the  "waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their 


The  Exodus.  115 

right  and  on  their  left."     But  when  we  consider  the 
natural  rhetorical  use  of  this  word  "  wall,"  it  presents 
no  difficulty.     In  Prov.  xviii.  1 1  we  are  told  that  "  the 
rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city,  and  as  a  high  wall 
in  his  own  imagination  " ;  while  in  Isa.  xxvi.  I  we  are 
told  that  "  God  will  appoint  salvation  for  walls  and 
bulwarks  " ;  and,  again,  in  Nahum  iii.  8,  Egypt  is  de- 
scribed as  she  "  that  was  situate  among  the  rivers  [mar- 
gin, "canals"],  that  had  the  waters  round  about  her; 
whose  rampart  was  the  sea  [margin,  "  the  Nile  "]  and 
her  wall  was  of  the  sea."    In  all  these  cases  one  readily 
perceives  that   the   purpose   of   defense   which   a   wall 
serves,  is  the  idea  which  is  figuratively  expressed.    And 
so  we  find  sufficient  warrant  for  this  meaning  in  the 
protection  which  was  given  by  the  deep  water  of  the 
Bitter  Lakes  on  one  flank  of  the  host,  and  that  of  the 
Gulf  of  Suez  upon  the  other,  as  they  were  marching  to 
a  place  of  safety  upon  the  other  side.     There  was  no 
chance  for  Pharaoh  to  intercept  them  by  a  flank  move- 
ment.    He  could  only  press  upon  their  rear,  as  he  did, 
and  come  into  the  channel,  when  the  returning  waters 
overwhelmed  his  army. 

Similarly  the  passages  in  the  Song  of  Moses,  which 
follows,  are  to  be  interpreted  in  accordance  with  the 
highly  rhetorical  character  of  the  composition.  There 
we  are  told  that  the  retirement  of  the  sea  was  accom- 


Il6  The  Exodus. 

plished  by  the  "  blast  of  God's  nostrils,"  which  even  a 
child  could  understand  as  a  poetical  expression  for 
"  wind."  It  is  further  said  that  the  "  deeps  were  con- 
gealed in  the  heart  of  the  sea,"  which  literally  would 
imply  that  the  children  crossed  on  ice,  but  which  re- 
veals its  meaning  without  any  diflficulty  even  to  the 
ordinary  reader.  Again,  in  Ex.  xv.  12,  it  is  said  that 
the  earth  swallowed  Pharaoh's  host,  where  again  the 
misunderstanding  of  the  poetic  figure,  by  overemphasis 
upon  the  letter,  would  indicate  almost  absolute  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  true  principles  of  literary  interpreta- 
tion. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  proper  to  call  renewed  attention 
to  the  extent  to  which  this  analysis  of  the  biblical  state- 
ments and  of  the  phj^sical  conditions  in  which  the  his- 
tory is  located,  confirms  the  account.  The  story  fits 
the  circumstances  so  perfectly,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
conditions  implied  so  correspond  with  the  facts  stated, 
that  the  history  is  supported  by  the  strongest  form  of 
circumstantial  evidence.  It  is  not  within  the  power  of 
man  to  invent  a  story  so  perfectly  in  accordance  with 
the  vast  and  complicated  conditions  involved.  The  ar- 
gument is  as  strong  as  that  for  human  design  when  a 
key  is  found  to  fit  a  Yale  lock.  This  is  not  a  general 
account  which  would  fit  into  a  variety  of  circumstances. 


The  Exodus.  II7 

There  is  only  one  place  in  all  the  world,  and  one  set 
of  conditions  in  all  history,  which  would  meet  the  re- 
quirements. This  is  scientific  proof.  No  higher  proof 
can  be  found  in  the  inductive  sciences.  The  story  is 
true.  It  has  not  been  remodeled  by  the  imagination 
either  of  the  original  writers  or  of  the  transcribers.  It 
is  not  the  product  of  mythological  fancy  or  of  legendary 
accretion. 


1 18     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PHYSICAL  PREPARATION  FOR  ISRAEL  IN 
PALESTINE. 

At  the  risk  of  some  repetition,  we  would  again  call 
attention  to  the  fact,  that,  however  we  may  emphasize 
the  direct  agency  of  God  in  answering  prayer,  and  in 
providing  for  the  wants  of  nations  in  the  great  crises 
of  history,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  overlook  the  pre- 
venient  care  for  men  which  appears  in  the  whole  order 
of  nature.  Indeed,  it  is  often  difficult  to  distinguish 
between  the  direct  and  the  indirect  agencies  through 
which  the  Creator  provides  for  human  want.  When, 
however,  the  element  of  time  is  dropped  out  of  our 
thought,  the  paternal  love  which  intelligently  lays  in 
store  the  provisions  which  the  children  wnll  need  when 
they  arrive  at  maturity  seems  as  real  a  manifestation  of 
interest  as  are  the  supplies  which  are  brought  into  the 
household  from  day  to  day. 

As  already  remarked,  the  only  tenable  view  of  the 
universe  is  that  of  an  organized  system  of  secondary 
causes  working  towards  definite  ends  which  are  more 
or  less  distant,  but  which,  at  innumerable  points,  are 
open  to  limited  modification  and  control  by  the  human 
will,  and,  at  every  point,  to  control  by  the  divine  will. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      119 

In  such  a  conception  of  nature,  it  is  neither  necessary 
nor  proper  to  suppose,  even  in  the  performance  of  a 
miracle,  anj'  greater  interference  with  the  secondary 
causes  than  is  needed  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
required  results.  It  is  remarkable  to  what  an  extent 
the  miracles  of  the  Bible  are  subordinate  to  this  sup- 
posed Law  of  Parsimony,  differing  in  this  respect  most 
strikingly  from  all  other  purported  miracles.  It  is  in 
this  sobriety  of  the  biblical  narratives,  making  only 
moderate  demands  upon  the  direct  agency  of  the  Crea- 
tor, and  calling  for  only  a  limited  disturbance  of  the 
course  of  nature,  that  we  find  one  of  our  strongest 
arguments  for  their  truthfulness. 

Human  nature  has  its  manifest  weaknesses  and  limi- 
tations. The  idea  of  the  presence  of  God's  direct 
agency  in  the  accomplishment  of  objects  is  one  which, 
when  entertained,  cannot  but  overpower  the  human 
imagination.  It  is  therefore  certain  to  be  the  case  that, 
when  a  miraculous  account  is  free  to  be  embellished  by 
legendary  accretions  or  mythological  fancies,  it  will 
become  grotesque,  and  unable  to  bear  the  scrutiny  of 
scientific  examination.  It  is  therefore  a  remarkable 
confirmation  of  the  biblical  miracles  in  general,  espec- 
ially of  those  which  seem  to  make  most  demand  upon 
the  direct  agency  of  God  for  their  production,  that  they 
have  been  provided  for  in  the  general  course  of  nature. 


120     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

and  involve  that  minimum  amount  of  direct  interfer- 
ence with  it  which  is  in  analogy  with  the  facts  coming 
under  the  observation  of  man  respecting  his  own  ability 
to  control  these  forces. 

Before  subjecting  to  examination  the  more  striking 
miraculous  events  in  Israel's  history  connected  with  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  it  will  be 
profitable  to  get  before  our  minds  a  general  view  of  the 
geological  features  of  Palestine,  which  have  played  so 
important  a  part  in  all  the  history,  both  ancient  and 
modern,  of  that  remarkable  land. 

THE    GREAT    '^  FAULT  "   OF   THE    JORDAN    VALLEY. 

The  special  mission  of  Israel  demanded  isolation  in 
a  peculiar  country.  Otherwise  the  people  would  have 
been  amalgamated  with  the  more  numerous,  more  pow- 
erful, and  more  civilized  heathen  around  them,  and 
their  exclusive  religious  development  would  have  been 
rendered  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible.  At  the 
same  time,  if  their  religion  was  to  become  universal, 
the  theater  of  historic  development  must  be  at  a  pivotal 
point  of  the  great  national  movements  of  the  world. 
Both  these  ends  were  secured  in  Palestine  by  a  remark- 
able combination  of  geological  and  physical  forces 
which  has  commanded  the  admiration  of  all  profound 
students  of  the  subject. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      I2I 

The  great  "  fault  "  of  the  Jordan  Valley  was  pro- 
nounced by  Humboldt  "  the  most  remarkable  geological 
feature  anywhere  to  be  found  in  the  world  " ;  while 
Karl  Ritter,  in  his  elaborate  geographical  publications, 
ever  returned  to  this  cleft  in  the  earth's  surface,  as  the 
most  significant  fact  in  the  natural  history  of  the  globe. 
This  "  fault,"  or  fracture  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  ex- 
tends from  Antioch,  on  the  Orontes  River,  in  Syria,  to 
the  south  end  of  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  a  distance  of  about 
one  thousand  miles.  Indeed,  geologists  now  trace  it 
through  the  Red  Sea,  and  into  the  lakes  of  Central  Af- 
rica. The  Lebanon  Mountains,  Western  Palestine, 
and  the  Desert  of  Sinai  are  on  one  side  of  it.  The 
Anti-Lebanon  Range  and  the  elevated  plains  of  Moab 
and  Northern  Arabia  are  on  the  other  side.  Along  the 
whole  dividing  line  the  rocky  strata  were  fractured, 
and  the  eastern  edge  of  the  western  portion  slipped 
down,  while  the  western  edge  of  the  eastern  mass  was 
elevated. 

The  depression  is  most  pronounced  in  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea.  Lake  Huleh  and  the 
marshy  plain  extending  north  to  Cssarea  Philippi  are 
almost  exactly  at  sea-level ;  but  Lake  Galilee  is  more 
than  600  feet,  and  the  Dead  Sea  1,292  feet,  below  the 
level  of  the  Mediterranean.  In  its  deepest  place  the 
bottom  of  the  Dead  Sea  is  2,600  feet  below  ocean-level, 


122     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

and  since  the  heights  of  !Moab  and  those  near  Hebron 
are  more  than  3,000  feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  it 
follows  that  the  bottom  of  the  Dead  Sea  is  depressed 
nearly  6,000  feet  below  the  general  land-level.  The 
rock  strata  on  the  surface  of  the  plains  of  Moab  cor- 
respond to  those  on  the  western  margin  of  the  Jordan 
Valley  and  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Western  Palestine  is  a 
gigantic  arch  of  rock  strata,  with  Shiloh,  Jerusalem, 
and  Hebron  on  its  summit,  its  eastern  foot  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  its  western  base  below  the 
plains  of  Philistia  on  the  Mediterranean, 

The  western  arch,  however,  has  one  remarkable  in- 
terruption in  Palestine,  This  appears  in  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  which  occupies  a  "  cross-fault,"  extending 
from  the  Jordan  a  little  south  of  Lake  Galilee  to  the 
Mediterranean  at  the  north  end  of  Mount  Carmel. 
Nazareth  lies  a  little  to  the  north  of  this  cross-fracture, 
while  the  Mount  of  Precipitation,  over  which  his  fel- 
low-townsmen were  on  the  point  of  casting  Jesus,  is  a 
portion  of  the  northern  cliff,  facing  Esdraelon,  produced 
by  the  cross-fault.  Mount  Tabor,  a  few  miles  to  the 
east,  is  an  outlying  mass  of  rock  which  did  not  settle 
with  the  rest  of  the  valley,  and  is  still  connected  by  a 
low  ridge  with  the  main  mass  to  the  north. 

The  summit  of  the  valley  of  Esdraelon,  between 
Mount  Tabor  and  Jezreel,  is  only  about  two  hundred 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      123 

feet  above  the  Mediterranean.  The  depression,  there- 
fore, affords  the  natural  line  of  communication  between 
the  shore  of  this  sea  and  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan. 
This  was  the  main  route  followed  by  the  caravans  from 
the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  through  Damascus  to  the 
Mediterranean  at  Acre,  and  thence  along  the  shore  to 
Egypt.  It  was  this  which  made  the  valley  of  Esdrae- 
lon  the  great  battle-field  between  the  east  and  the  west. 
Recently  an  English  company  has  built  a  railway  from 
Acre  through  this  valley  to  the  Jordan,  and  thence  to 
Damascus.  Thus,  from  first  to  last,  it  has  been  a  great 
highway  for  the  nations. 

Yet,  upon  either  side,  the  ascent  to  the  hills  is  so 
rapid,  and  the  country  so  inaccessible,  that  there  has 
been  little  temptation  for  military  occupation  by  for- 
eigners. When  Napoleon  led  his  expedition  from 
Egypt  to  Syria,  he  established  his  headquarters  for  a 
while  on  the  plain  at  Ramleh,  near  Jaffa,  and  later  be- 
sieged Acre,  and  made  his  headquarters  near  Jezreel; 
while  his  ablest  general,  Kleber,  fought  an  important 
battle  at  the  base  of  Mount  Tabor.  Meanwhile  Jeru- 
salem was  left  undisturbed  in  its  isolated  position  among 
the  mountains  of  Judaea.  When  asked  why  he  did  not 
capture  Jerusalem,  Napoleon  replied  that  it  was  so  out 
of  the  way  that  it  was  of  no  general  military  signifi- 
cance.    There  can  be  no  question,  that  the  warning  of 


124     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

the  prophets  against  alliances  with  the  great  nations  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  Euphrates  conformed  to  the 
highest  principles  of  both  military  and  political  wisdom. 
There  was  little  motive  for  Assyria  to  capture  Jerusa- 
lem, except  as  she  was  an  ally  of  Egypt.  Her  strength 
was  in  the  natural  independence  of  her  isolation. 

Next  to  the  Caucasus,  Judaea  is,  from  a  military 
point  of  view,  one  of  the  most  easily  defended  regions 
in  the  world.  The  approaches  from  the  west  are 
through  steep  and  circuitous  mountain  gorges,  in  which 
an  attacking  army  is  in  constant  peril  from  surprises. 
The  trails  from  Samaria  to  Jerusalem  are,  even  now, 
almost  impassable  to  horses,  while  the  desert  and  diffi- 
cult roads  protect  it  from  the  south.  Joshua's  march 
from  Jericho  up  the  valley  to  the  summit  at  Ai  and 
Bethel,  a  few  miles  north  of  Jerusalem,  exhibited  the 
perfection  of  military  tactics.  From  this  point  of  van- 
tage he  could  sweep  along  the  central  ridge  to  the  south, 
and  easily  occupy  the  main  positions  of  importance. 
Providence  was  not  altogether  blind  in  leading  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  through  Aloab  to  the  head  of  the  Dead 
Sea  and  to  the  passes  that  lead  thence  to  the  central 
part  of  the  Promised  Land. 

North  of  the  valley  of  Esdraelon  the  land  was  almost 
equally  protected.  The  approach  to  Lake  Galilee  by 
the  Jordan  Valley  is  difficult.    The  entire  east-and-west 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      125 

"  fault  "  facing  Esdraelon  from  the  north  presents  a 
precipitous  front  which  is  easily  defended.  The  moun- 
tains on  both  the  east  and  the  west  side  of  the  valley, 
beginning  at  the  south  end  of  Lake  Galilee  and  extend- 
ing to  the  ancient  Dan,  are  lofty,  and  inaccessible  to  a 
military  force;  while  north  of  Dan  the  valley  between 
Lebanon  and  Mount  Hermon  is  so  deeply  filled  with 
debris  of  a  recent  volcanic  eruption  that  it  is  practically 
impassable.  The  Litany  River,  which  rises  near  Baal- 
beck  and  flows  south  through  the  valley  between  Leb- 
anon and  Anti-Lebanon,  as  though  it  would  join  the 
waters  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  meets  the  barrier,  and 
suddenly  turns  at  a  right  angle  to  enter  the  Mediter- 
ranean near  Sidon.  The  observant  traveler  cannot  fail 
to  be  impressed  with  the  completeness  of  this  barrier  as 
he  crosses  its  southern  projection  near  Dan,  and  takes 
a  glance  at  the  successive  steps  with  which  the  volcanic 
material  rises  across  the  valley  to  the  north. 

Thus,  with  this  barrier  of  rough  basaltic  rocks  to  the 
north,  the  precipitous  mountain  walls  on  the  east  and 
west,  and  the  desert  on  the  south,  Palestine  was  specially 
prepared  to  be  the  home  of  a  "  peculiar  people."  At  the 
same  time  the  great  highway  between  the  east  and  the 
west  passed  through  its  center,  but  so  walled  in  that 
there  was  little  temptation  for  an  armed  force  to  inter- 
fere with  peaceable  people  on  either  side.     So  that,  as 


126     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

Origen  forcibly  maintained,  Palestine,  though  insignifi- 
cant in  itself,  was  so  central!}'  situated  that  it  was  the 
fittest  of  all  places  for  the  dissemination  of  Christianity 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

THREE    GREAT    .MIRACLES. 

The  falling  of  the  walls  of  Jericho,  the  parting  of  the 
waters  of  the  Jordan,  and  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  are  three  notable  miracles  upon  which  the 
physical  history  of  Palestine  sheds  much  light.  All 
these  seem  to  be  directly  connected  with  the  natural 
causes  which  have  produced  the  "  great  Jordan  Fault," 
and  which  render  the  region  specially  subject  to  earth- 
quakes. 

The  Falling  of  the  Walls  of  Jericho. — This  striking 
phenomenon  can  easily  be  referred  to  an  earthquake 
for  its  secondary  cause.  • 

The  preliminary  report  of  the  State  Earthquake  In- 
vestigation Committee  appointed  immediately  after  the 
catastrophe  at  San  Francisco,  on  the  i8th  of  April, 
1906,  sheds  some  interesting  light  upon  the  somewhat 
similar  catastrophe  at  Jericho  three  thousand  years  ago. 
Professor  A.  C.  Lawson,  of  the  State  University  of 
California,  was  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  there 
were  associated  with  him  a  number  of  the  most  emi- 
nent geologists  of  the  country.     In  reading  their  report. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      127 

one  can  but  be  remarkably  impressed  by  the  similarity 
of  conditions  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  along  the 
coast  of  California.  In  California,  as  in  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan,  a  long  "  fault  "  is  to  be  observed  running 
parallel  with  the  Coast  Range  for  a  distance  of  many 
hundred  miles.  Along  this  fault  the  dislocation  of  the 
strata  amounts  to  many  hundred  feet.  According  to 
the  Commission,  probably  every  movement  on  this  line 
produced  an  earthquake,  the  severity  of  which  was  pro- 
portioned to  the  amount  of  movement. 

"  The  cause  of  these  movements  in  general  terms  is 
that  stresses  are  generated  in  the  earth's  crust  which 
accumulate  till  they  exceed  the  strength  of  the  rocks 
composing  the  crust,  and  they  find  relief  in  a  sudden 
rupture.  This  establishes  the  plane  of  dislocation  in 
the  first  instance,  and  in  future  movements  the  stresses 
have  only  to  accumulate  to  the  point  of  overcoming  the 
friction  on  that  plane  and  any  cementation  that  may 
have  been  effected  in  the  intervals  between  movements. 
The  earthquake  of  the  i8th  of  April,  1906,  was  due 
to  one  of  these  movements  "  (p.  10). 

For  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  miles 
the  effect  of  the  movement  was  clearly  traced.  The 
observed  displacement  was  both  horizontal  and  vertical. 
In  many  cases  one  side  of  the  fault  was  shoved  past  the 
other  horizontally  for  a  distance  of  fifteen  or  sixteen 
feet,  and  in  one  case  a  roadway  was  found  to  have 


128     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

been  differentially  moved  twenty  feet.  This  would 
produce  the  circular  motion,  so  often  referred  to  by 
observers,  which  was  specially  destructive  of  loosely 
constructed  stone  buildings.  A  correspondent  writes 
that  the  bricks  in  his  chimney  were  scattered  like  grain 
from  the  hand  of  a  sower.  At  the  same  time  theje  was 
a  vertical  movement  of  several  feet.  A  striking  result 
of  the  investigation  is  that  the  most  destructive  effects 
were  found  on  made  land,  and  on  sedimentary  deposits 
adjoining  the  main  line  of  fracture.  In  the  words  of 
the  report, — 

"Within  the  area  of  destructive  effects,  approximately 
four  hundred  by  fifty  miles  in  extent,  the  intensity 
varied  greatly.  There  was  a  maximum  immediately 
on  the  rift  line.  Water  pipes,  conduits,  and  bridges 
crossing  this  line  were  rent  asunder.  Trees  were  up- 
rooted and  thrown  to  the  ground  in  large  numbers. 
Some  trees  were  snapped  oi¥,  leaving  their  stumps 
standing,  and  others  were  split  from  the  roots  up. 
Buildings  and  other  structures  were  in  general  violently 
thrown  and  otherwise  wrecked,  though  some  escaped 
with  but  slight  damage.  Fissures  opened  in  the  earth 
and  closed  again,  and  in  one  case  reported  a  cow  was 
engulfed. 

"A  second  line  of  maximum  destruction  lies  along 
the  floor  of  the  valley  system  of  which  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco  is  the  most  notable  feature,  and  particularly 
in   the   Santa   Rosa  and    Santa   Clara   vallevs.      Santa 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      129 

Rosa,  situated  twenty  miles  from  the  rift,  was  the 
most  severely  shaken  town  in  the  State  and  suffered  the 
greatest  disaster  relatively  to  its  population  and  extent. 
Healdsburg  suffered  to  a  nearly  similar  degree.  San 
Jose,  situated  thirteen  miles,  and  Agnews,  about  twelve 
miles  from  the  rift,  are  next  in  the  order  of  severity. 
Stanford  University,  seven  miles  from  the  rift,  is  prob- 
ably to  be  placed  in  the  same  category.  All  of  these 
places  are  situated  on  the  valley  floor  and  are  underlain 
to  a  considerable  depth  by  loose  or  but  slightly  coherent 
geological  formations,  and  their  position  strongly  sug- 
gests that  the  earth  waves  as  propagated  by  such  forma- 
tions are  much  more  destructive  than  the  waves  which 
are  propagated  by  the  firmer  and  highly  elastic  rocks  of 
the  adjoining  hill  lands"  (p.  13). 

"...  The  most  violent  destruction  of  buildings  [in 
San  Francisco],  as  everybody  knows,  was  on  the  made 
ground.  This  ground  seems  to  have  behaved  during  the 
earthquake  very  much  in  the  same  way  as  jelly  in  a 
bowl,  or  as  a  semi-liquid  material  in  a  tank.  The  earth 
waves  which  pass  through  the  highly  elastic  rocks 
swiftly  with  a  small  amplitude  seem  in  this  piaterial 
to  have  been  transformed  into  slow  undulations  of 
great  amplitude  which  were  excessively  destructive  " 
(p.  15). 

In  the  light  of  all  this,  it  is  important  to  observe  that 
the  city  of  Jericho  stood  upon  the  deep,  recent,  uncon- 
solidated sedimentary  deposits  which  fill  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan.     The  conditions  are  strikingly  like  those 


130     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

existing  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Francisco,  where  the 
greatest  destruction  occurred  during  the  recent  catas- 
trophe.    The  brief  account  in  Joshua  is  very  lifelike : — 

"  So  the  people  shouted,  and  the  priests  blew  the 
trumpets:  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people  heard 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  that  the  people  shouted  with 
a  great  shout,  and  the  wall  fell  down  flat,  so  that  the 
people  went  up  into  the  city,  every  man  straight  before 
him,  and  they  took  the  city"  (vi.  20). 

The  reader  should  not  fail  to  notice  that  the  blowing 
of  the  trumpets  is  not  represented  by  the  sacred  writer 
to  be  the  cause  of  the  falling  of  the  walls,  but  merely 
a  concomitant.  We  are  left  to  believe  that  the  two 
events  were  brought  together  by  divine  foresight,  and 
it  was  in  this  that  the  miraculous  nature  of  the  event 
consists.  The  mine  beneath  the  walls  of  Jericho  was 
so  deeply  laid  that  only  divine  power  and  prescience 
could  explode  it  at  the  proper  time  to  accomplish  its 
spiritual  purpose. 

The  Parting  of  the  Waters  of  the  Jordan. — The  bib- 
lical account  reads  as  follows: — 

"  Joshua  iii.  13  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the 
soles  of  the  feet  of  the  priests  that  bear  the  ark  of  Je- 
hovah, the  Lord  of  all  the  earth,  shall  rest  in  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Jordan,  that  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  shall 
be  cut  off,  even  the  waters  that  come  down  from  above ; 
and  they  shall  stand  in  one  heap. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      131 

"14  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people  removed 
from  their  tents,  to  pass  over  the  Jordan,  the  priests 
that  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  being  before  the  peo- 
ple; 15  and  when  they  that  bare  the  ark  were  come 
unto  the  Jordan,  and  the  feet  of  the  priests  that  bare 
the  ark  were  dipped  in  the  brink  of  the  water  (for 
the  Jordan  overfloweth  all  its  banks  all  the  time  of 
harvest),  16  that  the  waters  which  came  down  from 
above  stood,  and  rose  up  in  one  heap,  a  great  way  off, 
at  Adam,  the  city  that  is  beside  Zarethan;  and  those 
that  went  down  toward  the  sea  of  the  Arabah,  even  the 
Salt  Sea,  were  wholly  cut  off;  and  the  people  passed 
over  right  against  Jericho.  17  And  the  priests  that 
bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  Jehovah  stood  firm  on 
dry  ground  in  the  midst  of  the  Jordan ;  and  all  Israel 
passed  over  on  dry  ground,  until  all  the  nation  were 
passed  clean  over  the  Jordan." 

This  is  certainly  a  very  simple  and  straightforward 
description  of  a  natural  phenomenon.  There  is  nothing 
fantastic  about  it,  and  nothing  incongruous  with  the 
surrounding  conditions.  It  is  said  that  the  waters  from 
above,  that  is,  up  stream,  rose  up  and  extended  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Adam,  a  distance  of  several  miles,  and 
that  the  supply  of  water  w^as  cut  off  that  formerly  ran 
down  to  the  Salt  Sea.  This  is  a  very  accurate  account 
of  what  would  occur  if  suddenly  a  dam  was  thrown 
across  the  stream,  some  little  distance  above,  ponding 
the  water  back  on  that  side,  and  cutting  off  the  supply 


132     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

below.  When  first  visiting  the  scene,  I  was  greatly 
surprised  to  see  that  I  had  not  read  the  account  with 
sufficient  care  to  appreciate  its  simplicity  and  accuracy. 

There  are  two  natural  agencies  that  at  this  point 
could  easily  have  produced  the  phenomena  here  de- 
scribed. By  some  it  has  been  thought  that  the  obstruc- 
tion was  caused  by  a  land-slip  somewhere  above,  which 
temporarily  cut  off  the  water  below.  But  it  is  equally 
possible  that  the  obstruction  was  produced  by  a  gentle 
swell  of  the  land  across  the  channel  pushed  up  by  an 
earthquake. 

A  similar  interruption  of  the  waters  of  the  Columbia 
River,  in  Oregon,  is  known  to  have  occurred  at  the 
Cascades,  where  an  old  channel  was  permanently  ob- 
structed by  an  immense  land-slide,  producing  a  lake 
above,  whose  outlet  is  still  over  the  rocks,  which  causes 
the  cascade.  We  can  give  no  better  description  of  the 
phenomena  than  by  quoting,  from  Science  for  1887,  the 
w^ords  of  Major  C.  E.  Dutton,  for  a  long  time  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 

"  The  Columbia  enters  the  Cascade  barrier  three  or 
four  miles  below  the  Dalles.  The  platform  of  that 
range  here  has  a  width  of  eighty  miles.  From  the  Dalles 
to  the  Cascade  Locks,  a  distance  of  over  fifty  miles,  the 
Columbia  River  flows  as  a  broad,  deep,  quiet  stream, 
with  a  sluggish  current  at  low  water.     Its  course  re- 


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134     Pfiysical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine, 

sembles  that  of  the  Hudson  through  the  Highlands; 
and  this  fact  is  at  once  suggestive,  because  the  passage 
of  rivers  through  mountain  ranges  is  generally  swift, 
and  broken  by  many  rapids.  If  it  is  otherwise,  there  is 
almost  certainly  an  interesting  reason  for  it.  The  Cas- 
cade Locks  are  situated  almost  exactly  on  the  axis  of 
the  Cascade  range.  Here  is  a  cataract  which  has  always 
been  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  navigation ;  for, 
within  a  distance  of  a  few  hundred  yards,  the  river 
makes  a  descent  of  about  thirty  feet.  The  government 
is  now  building  a  short  canal  with  large  locks,  to  enable 
steamboats  from  below  to  reach  the  still  waters  above. 
Beginning  at  a  point  about  a  mile  and  a  half  above  the 
cataract,  the  traveler,  as  he  sails  up  the  river,  observes 
many  old  stubs  protruding  from  the  water  and  from  the 
sand-banks,  laid  bare  during  the  low  stages  of  the  river. 
They  are  seen  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  recurring 
at  frequent  intervals,  here  clustered  thickly  together 
like  the  piles  of  an  old  wharf  whose  superstructure  has 
decayed  and  vanished,  there  with  wide  intervals  be- 
tween them.  During  high  water  these  tree-trunks  are 
entirely  submerged.  An  examination  of  the  wood 
serves  to  identify  them  with  the  living  species  of  fir 
which  form  the  forests  upon  the  mountains  and  cliffs 
round  about. 

"  These  submerged  trees,  together  with  the  long  still 
reach  of  water  above,  at  once  suggest  tliat  an  obstacle 
has  been  placed  athwart  the  stream,  forming  a  dam 
which  converted  the  river  valley  above  it  into  a  long. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      135 

narrow  lake,  and  that  the  rising  water  submerged  an 
old  forest  of  which  these  trees  are  the  vestiges.  Indeed, 
this  is  the  only  explanation  which  suggests  itself.  It  is 
strongly  corroborated  by  many  other  circumstances 
which  may  not  be  enlarged  upon  here.  No  geologist 
■who  has  visited  the  locality  has  ever  doubted,  so  far 
as  I  know,  that  this  is,  in  general  form,  the  true  expla- 
nation. The  only  question  which  arises  is  about  the 
nature  of  the  obstacle  which  has  dammed  the  river  " 
(pp.  82-83). 

Of  three  possible  explanations  we  will  note,  first, 
that  of  Major  Dutton,  who  supposes  at  the  Cascades 
a  post-glacial  "  uplift  of  the  entire  platform  athwart 
the  river  valley  in  the  shape  of  a  very  flat  anticlinal 
arch.  The  width  or  span  of  this  arch  is  about  five  and 
one-half  miles,  and  the  eastern  branch  of  the  flexure 
is  steeper  than  the  western."  The  river  has  now  cut  a 
gorge  so  far  through  the  lower  part  of  this  obstruction 
that  "  it  will  probably  require  not  more  than  a  century 
or  two  for  it  to  have  cleared  a  passage  deep  enough  to 
drain  the  slack-water  reach  above.  The  work  of  cut- 
ting a  passage  through  the  obstruction  five  and  one- 
half  miles  in  length  is  nearly  complete"  (p.  83). 
Major  Dutton's  supposition  is  that  this  obstruction 
was  formerly  much  higher  than  now,  having  been  much 
lowered  by  the  action  of  the  river,  and  that,  when  it 
was  at  the  former  height,  sediment  had  accumulated 


136     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

above  the  obstruction  so  as  to  bury  the  forest,  and  so 
preserve  it  from  decay  until,  through  the  lowering  of 
the  stream,  it  is  now  being  uncovered. 

Dr.  S.  F.  Emmons,  another  eminent  member  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  objected  to  this  the* 
ory  on  the  ground  that  an  earth  movement  such  as 
Major  Dutton  supposes  along  the  axis  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains  could  not  easily  be  supposed  to  have  pro- 
ceeded more  rapidly  than  the  corrasion  of  the  stream 
in  lowering  the  obstruction,  and  "  then  conveniently 
have  stopped,  so  as  to  allow  corrasion  to  gain  its 
former  ascendency  over  the  earth  movement." 

As  a  counter  theory,  Dr.  Emmons  gave  prominence 
to  a  tradition,  widely  circulated  among  the  Indians  and 
Hudson  Bay  trappers,  which  relates  that  "  there  once 
existed  a  natural  bridge  at  the  Cascades,  and  that  the 
ancestors  of  the  present  tribes  (probably  at  no  very  dis- 
tant period)  used  to  cross  the  river  here  dry  shod,"  and 
that  this  bridge  at  length  collapsed  through  the  effect 
of  the  undercutting  of  the  stream,  and  so  formed  the 
obstruction  which  now  causes  the  Cascades.  So  gen- 
erally disseminated  is  this  tradition  that  it  is  made  to 
play  an  important  part  in  a  popular  novel,  whose  scenes 
are  mostly  laid  in  that  region.  But  the  theory  can  be 
best  stated  in  Dr.  Emmons's  own  words. 

"At  the  time  when  the  general  cutting  of  the  Co- 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      137 

lumbia  had  reached  about  the  level  of  the  present  flood- 
plain  at  the  Cascades,  through  some  crack  or  other 
natural  opening  its  waters  found  a  passage  into  the 
underlying  conglomerate  bed,  which,  being  permeable, 
allowed  a  passage  of  this  water  down  stream  to  a  point 
in  the  bed  itself  where  it  outcropped  at  or  above  the 
level  of  the  lower  part  of  the  stream.  Such  a  passage, 
once  established,  would  be  rapidl}'  enlarged  by  the 
force  of  such  an  overlying  mass  of  water  as  the  Colum- 
bia River;  and  to  those  familiar  with  the  corrading 
force  of  water,  as  shown  in  the  stream  action  of  western 
rivers,  it  must  readily  be  apparent  that  it  would  soon 
become  large  enough  to  take  in  the  whole  stream ;  that 
thus  for  a  certain  distance  the  whole  Columbia  would 
run  underground,  like  the  so-called  '  Lost  Rivers,' 
which  are  still  found  under  the  basalt  flows  of  the 
Snake  River  plains.  Thus  would  have  been  formed 
the  natural  bridge  spoken  of  by  the  Indians.  More- 
over, by  this  lowering  of  its  bed  at  this  point,  the  bed 
of  the  river  above  would  have  been  correspondingly 
lowered,  and  tree-growth  would  have  gradually  extend- 
ed down  to  the  water's  edge,  as  it  does  at  present. 

"  Meantime  the  corrasion  of  this  underground 
stream  would  gradually  wear  away  the  supports  of  the 
overhanging  sheet  of  basalt,  until  at  length  they  became 
inadequate  to  hold  it  up ;  and  when  they  fell,  the  un- 
derground passage  would  have  been  suddenly  filled,  the 
river  dammed  up  to  the  present  level,  and  the  stream 
also  backed  up  so  as  to  cover  the  roots  of  and  thereby 


138     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

kill  the  trees  along  the  lower  part  of  its  banks.  Such  is 
essentially  the  present  condition  of  the  stream,  for  the 
broken  masses  of  the  basalt  which  form  the  present 
stream  bed  at  the  Cascades  resist  the  wearing-away  of 
the  water  better  than  did  the  conglomerate,  and  the 
river  above  the  Cascades  still  stands  at  a  higher  level 
than  it  did  before  the  falling-in  of  the  basalt  bridge  " 

(p.  157). 

The  third  theory  is  one  presented  by  Dr.  J.  S.  New- 
berry, an  equally  eminent  authority,  who  visited  the 
place  in  1855,  in  connection  with  the  Pacific  Railroad 
survey,  and  is  one  which  Mr.  S.  Prentiss  Baldwin  and 
I  were  independently  led  to  adopt  when  we  visited  the 
region  in  1890,  and  of  which  the  accompanying  pho- 
tographs seem  to  be  a  complete  demonstration.  Ac- 
cording to  this  theory,  the  Columbia  River  had,  before 
the  growth  of  the  buried  forest,  cut  a  gorge  completely 
through  the  obstruction  presented  by  the  anticlinal  arch 
referred  to  by  Major  Dutton ;  so  that  there  was  a  grad- 
ual descent  all  the  way  from  the  Dalles  to  the  section 
of  the  river  which  is  below  the  Cascades.  But  this 
channel,  where  it  was  comparatively  narrow  at  the 
Cascades,  was  finally  obstructed  by  an  immense  land- 
slide from  the  south,  which  turned  the  water  of  the 
river  into  its  present  course  over  the  rocky  bed  which 
forms  the  Cascades.    According  to  this  supposition,  the 


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140     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

trees  which  had  grown  down  the  bank  covering  the  old 
lower  flood-plain  above  the  Cascades  were  submerged 
and  killed  as  they  frequently  are  in  reservoirs  made  by 
artificial  means. 

Since  the  trees  are  still  undecayed,  it  would  follow 
that  their  submergence  did  not  occur  more  than  one 
hundred  or  two  hundred  years  ago,  for  this  longer 
period  is  the  extreme  limit  that  could  be  allowed  for 
wood  in  that  wet  climate  to  resist  decay.  Some  such 
date  as  this  also  must  probably  be  given  to  the  origin 
of  the  tradition  referred  to,  which  might  easily  arise, 
even  though  there  was  no  complete  natural  bridge  at 
that  time,  as  Professor  Emmons  supposes.  For,  ac- 
cording to  this  theory,  the  wide  expanse  now  covered 
by  the  water  as  it  falls  over  the  Cascades  was  high  and 
dry,  bordered  merely  by  a  comparatively  narrow  chan- 
nel on  the  south  side.  Furthermore,  for  a  brief  period 
after  the  landslide,  there  would  be  a  dry  passage  com- 
pletely across  until  the  vast  reservoir  above  was  filled. 

This  explanation  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  below 
the  Cascades  the  land  on  the  south  side  along  which  the 
railroad  runs  is  constantly  sliding  into  the  river,  so  as 
to  occasion  great  solicitude  to  the  engineers  who  are 
looking  after  the  safety  of  the  roadbed.  Upon  going 
back  into  the  forest  between  the  railroad  and  the 
precipitous   face   of   the   mountain   one   finds   immense 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      141 

long  crevasses  which  have  been  formed  at  various  times 
by  the  slipping  down  of  the  whole  bank.  Finally  the 
accompanying  photograph,  taken  by  Mr.  Baldwin,  in 
the  canal  bed  when  under  construction,  actually  ex- 
poses this  old  channel.  It  was  evident  that  if  the  canal 
had  been  dug  a  little  farther  to  the  south  there  would 
have  been  no  rock  obstruction.  Professor  Newberry's 
original  theory,  therefore,  seems  to  be  sufficiently  well 
supported  to  be  accepted  and  taught  as  a  doctrine. 

Having  studied  this  problem  in  the  Columbia  River 
somewhat  carefully  several  years  before,  it  was  with 
the  conclusions  in  mind  then  formed  that  I  entered  the 
Jordan  Valley  at  Jericho,  near  the  ford  above  the  Dead 
Sea.  But,  on  reaching  the  river's  bank,  my  attention 
was  instantly  arrested  by  phenomena  which  rendered 
plausible  the  theory  of  a  disturbance  by  an  earthquake. 

Near  the  Pilgrims'  Bathing-Place,  the  east  bank  of 
the  river  is  so  eroded  by  the  stream  as  to  present  a 
perpendicular  face.  This  consists  of  line  sediment, 
about  fifty  feet  thick,  which  has  been  deposited  by  the 
river  when  standing  at  a  higher  level,  and  subsequently 
channeled  by  it  when  the  land-level  was  relatively 
higher.  But  what  was  still  more  significant,  was  that 
there  were  clear  indications  of  three  changes  of  level. 
First,  there  had  been  an  elevation  of  about  fifteen  feet, 
during  which   erosion   had   proceeded   to   that   extent. 


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Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      143 

Then  there  had  been  a  return  of  the  water  to  the  higher 
level  and  a  re-sedimentation  up  to  the  old  limit.  This 
was  followed  by  a  re-channeling  of  the  whole,  during 
which  the  river  had  cut  through  both  the  later  and  the 
upper  sediment,  and  also  for  fifteen  feet  lower  down/ 

The  most  natural  interpretation  of  this  succession 
is,  that,  after  the  channel  had  been  cut  down  the  first 
fifteen  feet,  there  was  an  elevation,  through  subterra- 
nean forces,  of  the  bed  of  the  stream  a  mile  or  two 
below.  This  would  dam  up  the  water  temporarily, 
and  afford  a  dry  crossing-place  for  a  few  hours,  or  even 
longer,  and  make  the  waters  seem  to  pile  up  above,  as 
described  in  Josh.  iii.  13-17.  When,  however,  at 
length,  the  water  began  to  run  over  the  obstacle  to  its 
progress,  there  would  be  opportunity  to  refill  with  sedi- 
ment a  part  of  its  bed  above ;  so  that,  on  later  reerosion 
to  its  present  level,  it  would  present  the  phenomena  now 
to  be  observed.  I  have  not  evidence  sufficient  to  form 
an  opinion  as  to  whether  the  episode  in  the  river's  his- 
tory brought  to  light  by  these  facts  relates  to  the  same 
epoch  with  that  of  the  miracle  recorded  in  the  Penta- 
teuch ;  but  it  certainly  gives  a  plausible  explanation  of 
the  probable  secondary  causes  used  in  accomplishing  it. 

Here,  again,  on  this  supposition,  there  was  a  particu- 
lar use,  for  a  moral  purpose,  of  the  subterranean  forces 
which  have  so  long  operated  in  producing  the  great  de- 


144     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

pression  of  the  Jordan  Valley.  If  one  contends  that  the 
exhibition  of  this  force  at  that  time  was  foreordained, 
he  must  still  bring  in  prophetic,  or  divine,  foresight  to 
secure  the  presence  of  the  hosts  of  Israel  there  at  the 
precise  juncture,  and  this  involves  all  the  essential  ele- 
ments of  a  miracle. 

The  Destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. — The 
probable  secondary  cause  employed  in  the  destruction 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  was  the  ignition  by  an  earth- 
quake of  a  vast  underlying  reservoir  of  gas  and  petro- 
leum. The  Upper  Cretaceous  strata  which,  in  the 
great  Jordan  Fault,  have  been  thrown  down  below  the 
level  of  the  Dead  Sea,  contain  much  bituminous  lime- 
stone, such  as  naturally  gives  rise  to  pools  of  petroleum 
and  inflammable  gas.  Familiarity  with  the  gas  and  oil 
regions  of  the  United  States,  and  a  recent  visit  to  the 
still  more  remarkable  oil-fields  at  Baku,  on  the  Caspian 
Sea,  made  the  description  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  seem  exceedingly  natural  and  lifelike. 

Professor  B.  K.  Emerson,-  one  of  our  most  eminent 
geologists,  describes  the  region  about  the  Dead  Sea  as 
one 

"  where  sulphur,  deposited  by  many  hot  springs,  is 
abundant  in  the  clay,  and  where  bitumen  oozes  from 
every  crevice  of  the  rock,  and  every  earthquake  dis- 
lodges great  sheets  of  it  from  the  bottom  of  the  lake. 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      145 

where  Arabs  still  dig  pits  for  the  '  stone  of  Moses  '  to 
gather  in,  and  sell  it  in  Jerusalem,  and  where,  in  that 
most  ancient  fragment  of  the  Pentateuch,  four  kings 
fought  against  five,  and  the  kings  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah slipped  in  the  slime-pits  and  fell.  One  who 
has  read  of  the  burning  of  an  oil  well  on  Oil  Creek,  or 
in  Apscheron  will  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  catastrophe 
which  overtook  the  cities  of  the  plain  where  the  Lord 
rained  upon  Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah  brimstone  and 
fire  out  of  heaven. 

"  Following  the  latest  extremely  interesting  re- 
searches of  Blankenkorn,^  we  may  picture  the  upper 
cretaceous  plateau  of  Judea, — an  old  land,  cleft  at  the 
end  of  the  Tertiary  by  many  faults,  between  which  a 
great  block  sank  to  form  the  bottom  of  this  deep  sea. 
It  carried  down  in  the  fossiliferous  and  gypsum-bearing 
beds  the  source  of  the  bitumen  and  the  sulpher.  ...  In 
the  earlier  portion  of  this  last  or  post-glacial  stadium, 
a  final  sinking  of  a  fraction  of  the  bottom  of  the  trough, 
near  the  south  end  of  the  lake,  dissected  the  low  salt 
plateau,  sinking  its  central  parts  beneath  the  salt  waters, 
while  fragments  remain  buttressed  against  the  great 
walls  of  the  trench  forming  the  plains  of  Djebel  Usdum 
and  the  peninsula  El  Listan,  with  the  swampy  Sebcha 
between.  ...  It  exposed  the  wonderful  eastern  wall  of 
Djebel  Usdum:  seven  miles  long,  with  30-45  meters  of 
clear  blue  salt  at  the  base,  capped  by  125-140  meters 
of  gypsum-bearing  marls  impregnated  with  sulphur, 
and   conglomerates   at   times   cemented   with   bitumen. 


146     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

It  was  this  or  some  similar  and  later  sinking  of  the 
ground,  at  the  time  when  geology  and  history  join, 
which,  with  its  earthquakes,  overthrew  the  cities  of 
the  plain  and  caused  the  outpour  of  petroleum  from 
the  many  fault  fissures  and  the  escape  of  great 
volumes  of  sulphurous  and  gaseous  emanation,  which, 
ignited  either  spontaneously,  by  lightning,  or  by 
chance,  furnished  the  brimstone  and  fire  from  heaven, 
and  the  smoke  of  the  land  going  up  as  the  smoke  of 
a  furnace  which  Abraham  saw  from  the  plains  of 
Judea." 

An  oil-well  opened  in  Texas  in  1900  sent  up  to  a 
height  of  two  hundred  feet  a  stream  of  oil  six  inches  in 
diameter,  and  poured  out  25,000  barrels  of  oil  per  day. 
The  late  Professor  Edward  Orton  reported  that  he  had 
seen  the  pressure-gauge  on  a  gas  well  in  Central  New 
York  register  2,600  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  The 
pressure  on  the  piston  of  a  locomotive  rarely  goes  much 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  to  the  square  inch. 
The  oil-fields  at  Baku  on  the  Caspian  Sea  are  limited 
to  a  few  square  miles,  yet  this  small  area  produces  as 
much  as  all  the  American  fields  combined,  about  lOO,- 
000,000  barrels  annually.  When  a  well  is  sunk  a  few 
hundred  feet  to  the  subterranean  reservoir,  the  oil 
comes  up  with  such  force  that  there  is  no  possibility  of 
controlling  it.  The  drills  are  thrown  out  by  the  pres- 
sure, together  with  such  quantities  of  stones,  that  the 


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148     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

derricks  are  battered  to  pieces,  and  a  cone  of  debris  is 
piled  up  around  the  orifice.  Meanwhile  the  oil  is 
caught  by  dams  in  the  open  fields. 

The  reports  of  burning  oil-wells  near  Baku  exceed 
the  highest  flights  of  the  imagination : — • 

"In  the  spring  of  1901,  an  immense  fountain  was 
struck  by  Messrs.  Mantasheff,  which  commenced  with 
such  violence  that  the  roar  was  heard  all  over  the  oil 
fields,  and  many  people  were  aroused  from  their  sleep. 
The  derrick  was  blown  to  splinters  at  the  first  out- 
break, and  a  vertical  column  of  oil  and  sand  rose  to  a 
height  of  several  hundred  feet,  flinging  stones  in  all 
directions  and  drenching  the  neighborhood  with  oil. 
*The  derrick  and  engine-house  were  soon  hidden  from 
view  by  a  large  mound  of  sand,  from  the  center  of 
which  the  huge  fountain  arose,  and  all  the  houses,  work- 
shops, etc.,  in  the  district  were  covered  with  oil.  Every 
fire  within  a  radius  of  several  hundred  yards  had  to  be 
extinguished,  and  the  whole  of  the  valuable  properties 
surrounding  this  plot  were  for  many  days  shut  down 
completely.  Houses  in  the  immediate  vicinity  were 
flooded  out  and  rendered  uninhabitable,  and  w^ithin  a 
large  circuit  the  drain-spouts  from  the  roofs  of  the 
buildings  were  pouring  streams  of  oil  into  the  road- 
ways. The  main  roads  were  flooded  with  oil  several 
feet  deep  in  places,  and  the  oil  in  some  cases  was  more 
than  a  foot  deep  in  the  rooms  of  the  dwelling-houses, 
which  the  inhabitants  had  been  forced  to  vacate  speed- 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      149 

ily,  and  the  roo'fs  of  which  had  in  many  cases  collapsed 
from  the  weight  of  sand  upon  them. 

"An  even  more  destructive  fountain  was  one  of  the 
Baku  Oil 'Co.,  at  Bibi-Eibat,  in  1901 ;  this  commenced 
to  spout  with  terrific  force  from  a  great  depth,  com- 
pletely wrecking  the  derrick,  and,  after  rising  to  a 
considerable  height,  was  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
winds.  This  fountain  is  estimated  to  have  yielded 
about  1,000,000  poods  [about  100,000  barrels]  daily 
for  the  first  few  days,  during  which  time  the  oil  flooded 
all  the  surrounding  properties,  and  caused  a  total  ces- 
sation of  work  over  most  of  the  Bibi-Eibat  oil  field.  A 
changeable  wind  drove  the  oil  alternately  to  different 
parts  of  the  field,  deluging  miles  of  land,  and  blacken- 
ing and  damaging  every  building  within  its  reach.  A 
stiff  breeze  drove  the  oil  towards  Baku,  and  almost 
every  house  in  Baieloff,  a  suburb  of  Baku,  was  black- 
ened and  soaked  with  petroleum,  including  the  Russian 
church,  public  buildings,  and  private  residences.  Oil 
spray  was  falling  over  Baku  three  miles  away,  and 
sheets  of  note-paper  exposed  to  the  air  near  the  railway 
station  at  almost  five  miles'  distance  were  spotted  with 
oil  particles.  The  ships  in  the  harbor  did  not  escape, 
and  the  gunboats  of  the  Caspian  fleet,  which  are  painted 
white,  were  blackened  and  made  unrecognizable  by 
the  drifting  oil  spray.  Although  some  15,000,000  poods 
[1,500,000  barrels]  of  oil  were  secured,  the  high  duty 
payable  to  the  Government,  and  the  enormous  demands 
for  compensation  from  persons  who  suffered  damage — 


I50     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

for  practically  the  whole  of  the  village  of  Baieloff  had 
to  be  cleaned  and  the  houses  repainted — left  but  little 
surplus  for  profit. 

"  Perhaps  the  greatest  fountain  ever  recorded  in  the 
w^orld's  history  was  that  resulting  from  Mr.  Assadu- 
laiefE's  first  boring  in  Romany  [near  Baku].  This  well 
was  the  first-bored  hole  in  the  district,  and  the  oil 
flowed  almost  incessantly  for  years,  yielding,  it  is  re- 
ported, between  50,000,000  and  60,000, ooo  poods 
[5,000,000  or  5,000,000  barrels]."  * 

As  already  shown,  the  region  of  the  Dead  Sea  is 
a  partially  exhausted  gas  and  oil  field,  over  a  deep  fis- 
sure in  the  earth  leading  far  down  towards  its  central 
fires.  The  description  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  reads  almost  exactly  like  that  of  some  of  the 
scenes  just  described,  and  is  too  sober  and  realistic  to 
have  been  invented.  The  whole  story  is  told  in  a  few 
words — 

"  Genesis  xix.  24  Then  Jehovah  rained  upon  Sodom 
and  upon  Gomorrah  brimstone  and  fire  from  Jehovah 
out  of  heaven ;  25  and  he  overthrew  those  cities,  and  all 
the  Plain,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities,  and  that 
which  grew  upon  the  ground.  26  But  his  wife  looked 
back  from  behind  him,  and  she  became  a  pillar  of  salt. 
27  And  Abraham  gat  up  early  in  the  morning  to  the 
place  where  he  had  stood  before  Jehovah :  28  and  he 
looked  toward  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  toward  all 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      15 1 

the  land  of  the  Plain,  and  beheld,  and,  lo,  the  smoke 
of  the  land  went  up  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace. 

"  29  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  God  destroyed  the 
cities  of  the  Plain,  that  God  remembered  Abraham,  and 
sent  Lot  out  of  the  midst  of  the  overthrow,  when  he 
overthrew  the  cities  in  which  Lot  dwelt." 

From  the  heights  of  Hebron,  about  thirty  miles  away, 
where  Abraham  was,  the  plain  about  the  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea  could  not  be  seen.  Instead,  he  saw  the  smoke 
of  the  catastrophe  ascending  "  as  the  smoke  of  a  fur- 
nace." Nothing  pertaining  to  this  description  has  the 
air  of  fiction.  There  is  nothing  fantastic  or  extravagant 
about  it,  except  as  the  facts  naturally  entering  into  the 
history  are,  to  ill-informed  persons,  stranger  than 
fiction. 

Nor  is  the  fate  of  Lot's  wife  altogether  anomalous. 
The  eruptions  of  gas  and  oil  are  often  accompanied 
with  eruptions  of  salt  slime  such  as  presumably  envel- 
oped her  as  she  lingered  behind.  The  description  of 
her  death  is  certainly  very  sober,  and  unconnected  with 
the  fantastic  elements  which  have  been  attached  to  it 
in  many  popular  representations.  The  phrase  "  pillar 
of  salt  "  is  more  definite  than  the  original  word  de- 
mands. Mound  of  salt  would  probably  more  nearly 
express  the  idea.  But  salt  is  an  abundant  constituent 
of  the  rocks  around  the  Dead  Sea.     The  lower  strata 


152     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

of  Jebel  Usdum  at  the  south  end  consist  of  solid  salt 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  thick.  The  pillars  left  by 
the  erosion  of  this  stratum  have  given  shape  to  the  pop- 
ular conception.  A  mound  of  salty  slime  exuded  from 
an  orifice  opened  by  an  earthquake  would  be  a  most 
common  accompaniment  of  such  a  catastrophe.'^ 

Again  we  repeat,  that  this  explanation  of  the  miracle, 
while  it  strongly  confirms  the  truth  of  the  record,  does 
not  in  the  least  degree  impair  the  miraculous  character 
of  the  event.  The  use  of  these  natural  forces  to  ac- 
complish the  moral  purposes  of  the  catastrophe  involves 
the  direct  action  of  the  Creator  as  really  as  the  aiming 
and  firing  of  a  gun  at  a  mark  does  that  of  a  free  hu- 
man agent.  The  conjunction  of  this  natural  catastro- 
phe with  this  particular  epoch  in  the  history  both  of 
Lot  and  of  Abraham  could  not  have  been  accidental. 
If  the  divine  agency  was  not  directly  involved  in  setting 
free  at  that  instant  the  phj'sical  forces  producing  the 
catastrophe,  it  was  involved  in  securing  the  relation  of 
Lot  and  Abraham  to  it.  But  it  is  as  easy  to  believe  that 
the  Lord  directly  used  the  forces  prepared  as  that  a 
huntsman  purposely  fires  a  gun. 

Before  passing  to  the  story  of  the  Flood,  it  will  be  in 
place  briefly  to  consider  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis,— a  document  so  striking  and   full  of  apparently 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      153 

improbable  statements  that  it  most  readily  lends  itself 
to  our  purpose.     It  reads  as  follows: — 

"  Genesis  xiv.  I  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  daj's 
of  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar,  Arioch  king  of  EUasar, 
Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and  Tidal  king  of  Goiim, 
2  that  they  made  war  with  Bera  king  of  Sodom,  and 
with  Birsha  king  of  Gomorrah,  Shinab  king  of  Admah, 
and  Shemeber  king  of  Zeboiim,  and  the  king  of  Bela 
(the  same  is  Zoar).  3  All  these  joined  together  in  the 
vale  of  Siddim  (the  same  is  the  Salt  Sea).  4  Twelve 
years  they  served  Chedorlaomer,  and  in  the  thirteenth 
year  they  rebelled.  5  And  in  the  fourteenth  year  came 
Chedorlaomer,  and  the  kings  that  were  with  him,  and 
smote  the  Rephaim  in  Ashteroth-karnaim,  and  the  Zu- 
zim  in  Ham,  and  Emim  in  Shaveh-kiriathaim,  6  and  the 
Horites  in  their  mount  Seir,  unto  El-paran,  which  is 
by  the  wilderness.  7  And  they  returned,  and  came  to 
En-misphat  (the  same  is  Kadesh),  and  smote  all  the 
country  of  the  Amalekites,  and  also  the  Amorites,  that 
dwelt  in  Hazazon-tamar.  8  And  there  went  out  the 
king  of  Sodom,  and  the  king  of  Gomorrah,  and  the 
king  of  Admah,  and  the  king  of  Zeboiim,  and  the  king 
of  Bela  (the  same  as  Zoar)  ;  and  they  set  the  battle  ar- 
ray against  them  in  the  vale  of  Siddim ;  g  against 
Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and  Tidal  king  of  Goiim, 
and  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar,  and  Arioch  king  of  El- 
lasar;  four  kings  against  the  five.  10  Now  the  vale 
of  Siddim  was  full  of  slime  [bitumen]  pits;  and  the 
kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fled,  and  they  fell  there, 


154     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

and  they  that  remained  fled  to  the  mountain,  ii  And 
they  took  all  the  goods  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and 
all  their  victuals,  and  went  their  way.  12  And  they 
took  Lot,  Abram's  brother's  son,  who  dwelt  in  Sodom, 
and  his  goods,  and  departed. 

"13  And  there  came  one  that  had  escaped,  and  told 
Abram  the  Hebrew :  now  he  dwelt  by  the  oaks  of 
Mamre  the  Amorite,  brother  of  Eshcol,  and  brother  of 
Aner ;  and  these  were  confederate  with  Abram.  14  And 
when  Abram  heard  that  his  brother  was  taken  captive, 
he  led  forth  his  trained  men,  born  in  his  house,  three 
hundred  and  eighteen,  and  pursued  as  far  as  Dan.  15 
And  he  divided  himself  against  them  by  night,  he  and 
his  servants,  and  smote  them,  and  pursued  them  unto 
Hobah,  which  is  on  the  left  hand  of  Damascus.  16 
And  he  brought  back  all  the  goods,  and  also  brought 
back  his  brother  Lot,  and  his  goods,  and  the  women 
also,  and  the  people. 

"17  And  the  king  of  Sodom  went  out  to  meet  him, 
after  his  return  from  the  slaughter  of  Chedorlaomer 
and  the  kings  that  were  with  him,  at  the  vale  of  Shaveh 
(the  same  is  the  King's  Vale).  18  And  Melchizedeck 
king  of  Salem  brought  forth  bread  and  wine:  and  he 
was  priest  of  God  Most  High,  ig  And  he  blessed  him, 
and  said,  Blessed  be  Abram  of  God  Most  High,  pos- 
sessor of  heaven  and  earth :  20  and  blessed  be  God 
Most  High,  who  hath  delivered  thine  enemies  into  thy 
hand.  And  he  gave  him  a  tenth  of  all.  21  And  the 
king  of  Sodom  said  unto  Abram,  Give  me  the  persons, 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      155 

and  take  the  goods  to  thyself.  22  And  Abram  said 
to  the  king  of  Sodom,  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  unto 
Jehovah,  God  Most  High,  possessor  of  heaven  and 
earth,  23  that  I  will  not  take  a  thread  nor  a  shoe- 
latchet  nor  aught  that  is  thine,  lest  thou  shouldest  say, 
I  have  made  Abram  rich :  24  save  only  that  which  the 
young  men  have  eaten,  and  the  portion  of  the  men  that 
went  with  me,  Aner,  Eshcol,  and  Mamre ;  let  them  take 
their  portion." 

Until  a  few  years  ago,  all  this  was  entirely  uncon- 
firmed, but  it  is  now  confirmed  by  a  remarkable  chain 
of  discoveries,  the  last  of  these  being  the  Laws  of 
Khammu-rabi,  one  of  the  actors  in  the  scene.  This 
confirmation  consists  not  only  in  the  general  coincidences 
of  the  documents,  but  even  more  convincingly  in  those 
minute  points  of  coincidence  which  only  a  scientific  ob- 
server would  notice.  These  are  forcibly  presented  in 
a  recent  communication  of  Professor  Sayce  to  the 
Expository  Times  for  August,  1906,  and  are  thus 
summarized  by  him : — 

"(i)  Cuneiform  documents  of  the  Khammu-rabi 
age  lie  behind  the  Hebrew  text. 

"(2)  The  documents  were  Babylonian.  This, 
however,  does  not  preclude  their  having  been  written  in 
Canaan,  since  the  official  titles  of  the  years  were  sent  by 
the  home  government  to  the  Canaanite  as  to  the  other 
governors.     One  of  these  notices,  announcing  the  of- 


156     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

ficial  title  of  one  of  the  j^ears  in  the  reign  of  Samsu- 
iluna,  the  son  and  successor  of  Khammu-rabi,  has  been 
found  in  the  Lebanon,  and  is  now  in  the  American  Col- 
lege at  Be3'riit. 

"(3)  The  Hebrew  text  is  a  translation,  or  para- 
phrase, of  a  cuneiform  original.  This  is  proved  by  the 
spelling  of  Amraphel,  Ham,  and  Zuzim,  and  the  ren- 
dering of  Uru-Salim  by  Salem ;  possibly  also  by  the  last 
syllable  of  Amraphel  and  the  first  syllable  of  Eshcol. 
[For  example,  Amrap  is  the  same  as  Khammurab,  ex- 
cept that,  in  the  latter  form,  the  A  is  introduced  by  a 
guttural  sound.  "  The  final  /  in  the  Hebrew  form  may 
be  explained  from  the  title  of  ilu,  '  god,'  given  to  the 
great  king  both  by  himself  and  by  others,"  or  from  a 
misreading  of  the  final  syllable,  which  may  be  pil  or 
bi.'\  A  paraphrase  is  less  likely  than  a  free  translation, 
since  all  those  who  received  a  Babylonian  education 
were  accustomed  to  translating,  more  or  less  literally, 
from  Sumerian.  The  Canaanite  or  Hebrew  glosses 
found  in  the  Tel  el-Amarna  tablets  also  point  to  trans- 
lation in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word. 

"  (4)  The  whole  chapter  belongs  to  the  same  period 
of  history  and  literature. 

"(5)  The  narrative  from  beginning  to  end  is  his- 
torical, and  is  probably  ultimately  based  on  official 
annals. 

"(6)  The  Babylonian  proper  names  have  been 
handed  down  with  remarkable  correctness,  indicating 
{a)  that  the  same  care  was  taken  in  Canaan  in  copying 


Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine.      157 

older  documents  as  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria;  {b)  that 
the  Hebrew  translator  was  conscientious;  (c)  that  the 
Hebrew  text  is  on  the  whole  to  be  trusted. 

"(7)  The  spelling  of  the  name  of  Amraphel  is  not 
official  Babylonian,  that  of  Chedor-laomer  agrees  with 
the  curious  spelling  of  the  Spartali  tablets  [discovered 
by  Dr.  Pinches,  in  which  Eri-Aku,  the  Sumerian  equiv- 
alent of  Arioch,  is  spelled,  in  the  favorite  rebus  fashion, 
Eri-E-kua,  the  servant  of  the  god  E-kua,  or  the  moon 
god.  Naturally,  therefore,  he  was  called  by  a  portion 
of  his  Semitic  subjects  Rim-Sin,  a  form  expressing  the 
same  idea]. 

"(8)  The  differences  between  the  Septuagint  and 
the  Massoretic  texts — the  Septuagint  readings  being 
usually  preferable  to  the  Alassoretic  on  archaeological 
grounds — show  that  there  has  been  '  corruption  '  of 
the  Hebrew  text  since  it  was  first  definitely  fixed. 

"(9)  We  are  therefore  justified  in  believing  that 
still  greater  differences  would  be  discoverable  could  we 
get  back  to  an  earlier  text,  such  as  it  w^as  before  the 
Pentateuch  had  been  reduced  to  its  present  form  by 
'  Ezra  and  the  men  of  the  great  Synagogue,'  who  would 
have  done  for  it  what  Peisistratus  is  said  to  have  done 
for  Homer;  see  3  Es.  xiv.  21,  22.  In  this  particular 
chapter,  however,  the  differences,  according  to  (6), 
would  not  have  been  material. 

"(10)  The  Hebrew  translation  was  made  after  the 
conquest  of  Laish  by  the  Danites  in  the  lifetime  of  the 
grandson  of  Moses,  but  before  Hazeron-tamar  had  be- 


158     Physical  Preparation  for  Israel  in  Palestine. 

come  En-gedi   [as  was  the  case  when  2  Chron.  xx.  2 
and  Joshua  xv.  62  wer£  written]. 

"(11)  As  the  use  of  the  so-called  Phoenician  alpha- 
bet in  Palestine  and  Phoenicia  cannot  be  traced  archaeo- 
logically  beyond  the  age  of  David  or  Samuel,  the 
Hebrew  translation  of  the  cuneiform  original  may  have 
been  made  then.  Von  Hummelauer  has  pointed  out 
that  Deut.  xii.--xxvi.  16  represents  'the  {not  a)  book 
of  the  kingdom'  (i  Sam.  x.  25)  written  by  Samuel 
(Bardenhewer's  Biblische  Studien,  vi.  I,  2).  That  the 
official  records  of  Israel  perished  in  the  destruction  of 
Shiloh  by  the  Philistines  (Jer.  vii.  12;  xxvi.  6),  is 
shown  by  the  loss  of  the  names  of  the  high  priests  be- 
tween Phineas  and  Eli,  the  list  in  i  Chron.  vi.  4-15, 
50-53  being  taken  from  the  genealogy  of  Ezra  (Ezra 
vii.  1-5)  combined  with  some  other  genealogy.  With 
the  new  regime  under  Samuel  we  may  therefore  con- 
jecture that  the  new  alphabet,  and  probably  also  the 
use  of  the  native  language,  were  introduced  among  the 
Israelites  as  they  seem  to  have  been  at  Tyre  under 
Abibal  and  Hiram  I.  Samuel  himself  bears  a  name  of 
the  Khammu-rabi  period,  Samu-ilu." 

It  is  certainly  difficult  to  believe  that  a  fictitious  doc- 
ument could  stand  the  scrutiny  of  scientific  cross- 
examination  so  successfully  as  this  has  done. 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  159 


CHAPTER    VI. 

TRADITIONS  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

Of  all  biblical  miracles,  the  Noachian  Deluge  is  the 
one  which  seems  to  make  the  most  extravagant  demands 
upon  scientific  faith.  Yet  it  is  this  upon  which  recent 
geological  investigations  have  shed  most  light,  reducing 
the  marvel  to  such  reasonable  proportions  that  no  one 
need  hesitate  to  accept  the  biblical  story,  when  properly 
interpreted,  upon  the  strength  of  the  documentary  evi- 
dence. At  the  same  time,  the  sobriety  of  the  biblical 
narrative  and  the  limitations  of  its  demands  to  such 
events  as  geology  now  shows  to  be  easily  credible  both 
confirm  the  story  itself  and  guarantee  the  faithfulness 
with  which  the  book  containing  the  record  has  been 
preserved  from  legendary  and  mythological  accretions. 

COMPARISON    WITH    OTHER    TRADITIONS. 

The  account  of  the  Flood  in  Genesis  does  not  stand 
alone.  Similar  traditions  are  found  among  nearly  all 
the  nations  and  tribes  of  the  world.  So  wide-spread 
and  persistent  are  these,  that  those  who  have  given  at- 
tention to  the  subject  have  found  it  difficult  to  resist 
the  conviction  that  they  relate  to  a  common  event  with 


l6o  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

which  the  ancestors  of  all  the  present  population  of  the 
world  were  acquainted  in  its  painful  reality. 

But,  as  might  be  expected,  the  traditions  in  general 
have  taken  on  such  local  coloring  and  extravagant  pro- 
portions that  the  kernel  of  truth  underlying  them  has 
been  hopelessly  obscured.  Among  them  all,  the  narra- 
tive in  Genesis  stands  out  conspicuous  for  the  grandeur 
and  beauty  of  the  divine  attributes  revealed  in  connec- 
tion with  the  catastrophe,  for  the  simplicity  of  the  style 
in  which  the  story  is  related,  and  for  its  undesigned  con- 
formity with  the  natural  facts  incidentally  involved 
in  it. 

The  traditions  with  which  it  is  most  important  to 
compare  the  biblical  narrative  are:  (i)  the  one  in  the 
cuneiform  tablets  discovered  by  George  Smith  about 
1870  and  supposed  to  date  at  least  from  3000  B.C., 
and  (2)  the  one  given  by  Berosus.  For  convenience  of 
reference,  we  place  on  opposite  pages  the  Bible  story 
and  a  translation  of  the  cuneiform  tablets.^ 

BIBLICAL   ACCOUNT. 

"  Gen.  vi.  5  And  Jehovah  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man 
was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually.  6  And  it 
repented  Jehovah  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it 
grieved  him  at  his  heart.  7  And  Jehovah  said,  I  will  destroy 
man  whom  I  have  created  from  the  face  of  the  ground ;  both 
man,    and    beast,    and    creeping    things,    and    birds    of    the 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  l6l 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT. 

'  [i]  Nuh-napishtim  saith  to  him,  even  to  Gilgamesh: 

[2]  Let  me  unfold  to  thee,  Gilgamesh,  a  secret  story, 

[3]  And  the  decree  of  the  gods  let  me  tell  thee! 

[4]  Shurippak,    a   city  thou   knowest, — 

[5]  On  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  it  lieth ; 

[6]  That  city  was  full  of  violence,  and  the  gods  within  it — 

[7]  To   make    a    flood    their    heart    urged   them,    even    the 

mighty  gods. 

[8]  Their  father  {i.e.  adviser:  Gen.  45.8)   was  Anu, 

[9]  Their  counsellor  the  warrior  Bel 

[10]  Their   throne-bearer    Ninib, 

[11]  Their  champion  Innugi. 

[12]  Nin-igi-azeg,  even,  la,  had  sat  {or  lurked)   near  them, 
and 

[13]  Their  talk  {or  purpose)  he  repeated  to  the  reed-fence: 

[14]  'Reed-fence,  reed-fence!     House-wall,  house-wall! 

[15]  Reed-fence,  listen!   and  house-wall  give  heed! 

[16]  Man  of  Shurippak,  son  of  Ubara-Tutu, 

[17]  Pull  down  the  house,  and  build  a  ship! 

[18]  Leave  goods,  seek  life! 

[19]  Property  forsake,  and  life  preserve! 

[20]  Cause  seed  of  life  of  every  sort  to  go  up  into  the  ship! 

[21]  The  ship  which  thou  shalt  build, 

[22]  Exact  be  its  dimensions, 

[23]  Equal  be  its  breadth  and  its  length! 

[24]  On  the  ocean  launch   it!' 

[25]  I  understood,  and  said  unto  la  my  lord: 

[26]  '  The  command,  my  lord,  which  thou  spakest  thus, 

[27]  I   honour,   I  will   do    [it]  ! 

[28]  [But   wh]at   shall    I    answer  the   city,   the   people   and 
the  elders?' 

[29]  la  framed  his  mouth  and  spaketh, 

{30]  He  saith  unto  me,  his  slave: 

[31]  '  [Ansjwer  thus  shalt  thou  make  unto  them: 


1 62  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 


BIBLICAL    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

heavens;  for  it  repenteth  me  that  I  have  made  them.     8  But 
Noah  found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah. 

"  9  These  are  the  generations  of  Noah.  Noah  was  a  right- 
eous man,  and  perfect  in  his  generations:  Noah  walked  with 
God.  lo  And  Noah  begat  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Ja- 
pheth.  II  And  the  earth  was  corrupt  before  God,  and  the 
earth  was  filled  with  violence.  12  And  God  saw  the  earth, 
and,  behold,  it  was  corrupt;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  their 
way  upon  the  earth. 

"  13  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  The  end  of  all  flesh  is 
come  before  me;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through 
them;  and,  behold,  I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth.  14 
Make  thee  an  ark  of  gopher  wood;  rooms  shalt  thou  make  in 
the  ark,  and  shall  pitch  it  within  and  without  with  pitch.  15 
And  this  is  how  thou  shalt  make  it:  the  length  of  the  ark  three 
hundred  cubits,  the  breadth  of  it  fifty  cubits,  and  the  height 
of  it  thirty  cubits.  16  A  light  shalt  thou  make  to  the  ark, 
and  to  a  cubit  shalt  thou  finish  it  upward ;  and  the  door  of 
the  ark  shalt  thou  set  in  the  side  thereof;  with  lower,  second, 
and  third  stories  shalt  thou  make  it.  17  And,  I,  behold,  I 
do  bring  the  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to  destroy  all 
flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven;  every- 
thing that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die.  18  But  I  will  establish 
my  covenant  with  thee;  and  thou  shalt  come  into  the  ark, 
thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy  sons'  wives  with 
thee.  19  And  of  every  living  thing  of  all  flesh,  two  of  every 
sort  shalt  thou  bring  into  the  ark,  to  keep  them  alive  with 
thee;  they  shall  be  male  and  female.  20  Of  the  birds  after 
their  kind,  and  of  the  cattle  after  their  kind,  of  every  creeping 
thing  of  the  ground  after  its  kind,  two  of  every  sort  shall 
come  unto  thee,  to  keep  them  alive.  21  And  take  thou  unto 
thee  of  all  food  that  is  eaten,  and  gather  it  to  thee;  and  it 
shall  be  for  food  for  thee,  and  for  them.  22  Thus  did  Noah; 
according  to  all  that  God  commanded  him,  so  did  he. 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  163 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

[32]     "Bel   hath   rejected   and   hateth   me,   and 

[33]     I  may  no  longer  dwell  in  yo[ur]  cit[y],  and 

[34]     Toward  Bel's  ground  I  may  no  longer  turn  my  face: 
but 

[35]     I  will    [go]   down  to  the  ocean,   [and]   with   [la]   my 
[lord]  will  I  dwell! 

[36]      [Upon]   you   it  will   rain   heavily.      .      .      . " ' 

[About  twelve  lines  are  broken,  or  have  entirely  dis- 
appeared.] 

[37]     On  the  fifth  day  I   laid  down  the  frame  of  it; 

[38]     At  its  bulwarks   (?)   its  sides  were  140  cubits  high; 

[39]     The  border  of   its  top   equaled   140  cubits    {i.e.   every 
way). 

[40]     I  laid  down  its  form,  I  figured   {or  fashioned)  it: 

[41]      I  constructed   it  in  six  stories, 

[42]     Dividing  it  into  seven  compartments; 

[43]     Its  floors  I  divided  into  nine  chambers  each. 

[44]     Water-pegs  inside  it  I   drove   it  in    (to  stop   leaks). 

[45]     I  chose   a  mast    {or  rudder-pole),  and  supplied  what 
was  necessary: 

[46]     Six  sars  of  bitumen  I  poured  over  the  outside 

[47]     Three  sars  of  bitumen   [I  poured  over]  the  inside. 

[48]     While  the  basket-bearers  were  carrying  three  sars  of 
oil  abroad, 

[49]     I  reserved  one  sar  of  oil,  which  the  libations   (?)  con- 
sumed ; 

[50]     Two  sars  of  oil  the  shipmen  stowed  away. 

[51]      For   [the  men's  food]   I  slau'ghtered  oxen; 

[52]     I   slew   [small  cattle]   every  day; 

[53]      New  wine,  sesame  wine,  oil   and   grape  wine, 

[54]     The   people    [I    gave   to   drink],    like   the   water  of   a 
river. 

[55]     A   feast   [I   made],   like   New  Year's  Day.  .  .   . 
[Five  lines.] 


164  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 


BIBLICAL    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

"  VII.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Noah,  Come  thou  and  all 
thy  house  into  the  ark;  for  thee  have  I  seen  righteous  before 
me  in  this  generation.  2  Of  every  clean  beast  thou  shalt  take 
to  thee  seven  and  seven,  the  male  and  his  female;  and  of  the 
beasts  that  are  not  clean  two,  the  male  and  his  female;  3  of 
the  birds  also  of  the  heavens,  seven  and  seven,  male  and  fe- 
male, to  keep  seed  alive  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth.  4  For 
yet  seven  days,  and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth 
forty  days  and  forty  nights;  and  every  living  thing  that  I 
have  made  will  I  destroy  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground. 
5  And  Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  Jehovah  commanded 
him. 

"  6  And  Noah  was  six  hundred  years  old  when  the  flood  of 
waters  was  upon  the  earth.  7  And  Noah  went  in,  and  his 
sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his  sons'  wives  with  him,  into  the  ark, 
because  of  the  waters  of  the  flood.  8  Of  clean  beasts,  and  of 
beasts  that  are  not  clean,  and  of  birds,  and  of  everything  that 
creepeth  upon  the  ground,  9  there  went  in  two  and  two  unto 
Noah  into  the  ark,  male  and  female,  as  God  commanded  Noah. 
10  And  it  came  to  pass  after  the  seven  days,  that  the  waters 
of  the  flood  were  upon  the  earth.  11  In  the  six  hundredth 
year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month,  on  the  seventeenth 
day  of  the  month,  on  the  same  day  were  all  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened.  12  And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and 
forty  nights. 

"13  In  the  selfsame  day  entered  Noah,  and  Shem,  and  Ham, 
and  Japheth,  the  sons  of  Noah,  and  Noah's  wife,  and  the 
three  wives  of  his  sons  with  them,  into  the  ark;  14  they,  and 
every  beast  after  its  kind,  and  all  the  cattle  after  their  kind, 
and  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth  after 
its  kind,  and  every  bird  after  its  kind,  every  bird  of  every 
sort.  15  And  they  went  in  unto  Noah  into  the  ark,  two  and 
two  of  all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life.     16  And  they 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  165 


CUNEIFORiM    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

[56]      [With  all  that  I  possessed  I  frjeighted  it; 

[57]     With  all  that  I  had  of  silver  I  freighted  it; 

[58]     With  all  that  I  had  of  gold  I  freighted  it; 

[59]     With   all  that  I   had  of  seed  of  life  of  every  sort   [I 

freighted   it]  ; 
[60]     I  put  on  board  all  my  family  and  my  clan; 
[61]      Cattle   of   the   field,   wild   beasts   of   the   field,    all   the 

craftsmen,  I  put  on  board. 
[62]     A  time  Samas  appointed    (saying)  : — 
[63]      '  When    the    Lord    of    Storm    at    eventide    causeth    the 

heavens  to  rain  heavily, 
[64]     Enter  into  the  ship,  and  shut  thy  door!' 
[65]     That  time  came: 
[66]     The  Lord  of  Storm  at  eventide  caused  the  heavens  to 

rain  heavily. 
[67]     I   dreaded  the   appearance  of  day; 
[68]     I   was   afraid  of  beholding  day: 
[69]     I  entered  the  ship  and  shut  me  my  door. 
[70]     For  the  steering  of  the  ship,  to  Bezur-Bel  the  shipman 
[71]     The   great   vessel    (deckhouse?)    I    handed   over,   with 

its  freight    {or  gear). 
[72]     When  the  first  light  of  dawn  appeared, 
[73]     There   rose   from   the   foundation   of   heaven    a   black 

cloud: 
[74]     Rimmon  in  the  heart  of  it  thunders,  and 
[75]      [Nebo]    and   Merodach  march   before; 
[76]     The  Throne-bearers   march   o'er  mountain   and   plain. 
[77]     The  mighty  Dibbarra    {or  Girra)    wrenches  away  the 

helm ; 
[78]     Ninib  goes  on,  pouring  out  ruin. 
[79]     The  Anunnaki    (earth-spirits)    lifted  torches; 
[80]     With  their  sheen  they  lighten  the  world. 
[81]     Rimmon's  violence  reacheth  to  heaven; 
[82]     Whatever  is  bright  he  turneth  into  darkness. 


1 66  Traditions  of  the  Deluge, 


BIBLICAL    ACCOUNT CONTINUED 

that  went  in,  went  in  male  and  female  of  all  flesh,  as  God 
commanded  him:  and  Jehovah  shut  him  in.  17  And  the  flood 
was  forty  days  upon  the  earth ;  and  the  waters  Increased,  and 
bare  up  the  ark,  and  it  was  lifted  up  above  the  earth.  18  And 
the  waters  prevailed,  and  increased  greatly  upon  the  earth ; 
and  the  ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  19  And 
the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth;  and  all  the 
high  mountains  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  cov- 
ered. 20  Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters  prevail ;  and 
the  mountains  were  covered.  21  And  all  flesh  died  that  moved 
upon  the  earth,  both  birds,  and  cattle,  and  beasts,  and  every 
creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  and  every  man: 
22  all  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  the  spirit  of  life,  of 
all  that  was  on  the  dry  land,  died.  23  And  every  living  thing 
was  destroyed  that  was  upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  both 
man,  and  cattle,  and  creeping  things,  and  birds  of  the  heavens; 
and  they  were  destroyed  from  the  earth:  and  Noah  only  was 
left,  and  they  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark.  24  And  the 
waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth  a  hundred  and  fifty  days. 

"  VIII.  And  God  remembered  Noah,  and  all  the  beasts, 
and  all  the  cattle  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark:  and  God 
made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the  earth,  and  the  waters  assuaged ; 
2  the  fountains  also  of  the  deep  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  stopped,  and  the  rain  from  heaven  was  restrained;  3 
and  the  waters  returned  from  off  the  earth  continually:  and 
after  the  end  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  days  the  waters  de- 
creased. 4  And  the  ark  rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  upon  the  mountains  of 
Ararat.  5  And  the  waters  decreased  continually  until  the 
tenth  month :  in  the  tenth  month,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month, 
were  the  tops  of  the  mountains  seen. 

"  6  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  that  Noah 
opened  tlie  window  of  the  ark  which  he  had  made:  7  And  he 
sent  forth   a    raven,   and   it  went  forth   to   and   fro,   until   the 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  167 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

[83] ' 

[84]     One   day   the   southern   blast     .... 

[85]      Hard    it   blew,   and     .... 

[86]     Like  a  battle-charge  upon  mankind  rush  [the  waters]. 

[87]     One  no  longer  sees  another; 

[88]     No  more   are  men  discerned   in    (described   from) 

heaven. 
[89]     The  gods  were  dismayed  at  the  flood,  and 
[90]      Sought  refuge  in  ascending  to  the  highest  heaven   {lit. 

the  heaven  of  Anu)  : 
[91]     The  gods  cowered   like  dogs;   on  the  battlements    (of 

heaven)    they  crouched. 
[92]     Ishtar  screams  like  a  woman  in  travail, 
[93]     The  loud-voiced  Lady  of  the  gods  exclaims: 
[94]     *  Yon   generation   is  turned   again   to   clay! 
[95]     As  I  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods  foretold  the  evil — 
[96]     Like  as  I  foretold  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods  the 

evil ; — 
[97]     A  tempest  for  the  destruction  of  my  people  I  foretold. 
[98]     But  I  will  give  birth  to  my  people   (again),  though 
[99]     Like  the  fry  of  fishes  they  fill  the  sea!' 
[100]     The  gods  because  of  the  Anunnaki  wept  with  her; 
[loi]     The  gods  were  downcast,  they  sate  a-weeping; 
[102]      Closed   were  their  lips     .... 
[103]     During  six  days  and  nights 
[104]     Wind,    flood,   storm,   ever   more   fiercely   whelmed   the 

land. 
[105]     When  the  seventh  day  came,  storm  (and)  flood  ceased 

the  battle, 
[io6]     Wherein  they  had  contended  like  a  host: 
[107]     The  sea  lulled,  the  blast  fell,  the  flood  ceased. 
[108]     I  looked  for  the  people  [^luima],  with  a  cry  of  lamen- 
tation ; 
[109]     But  all   mankind  had  turned  again  to  clay: 


l68  Traditions  of  the  Delude. 


BIBLICAL    ACCOUNT CONTINUED. 

waters  were  dried  up  from  off  the  earth.  8  And  he  sent  forth 
a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the  waters  were  abated  from  off 
the  face  of  the  ground;  9  but  the  dove  found  no  rest  for  the 
sole  of  her  foot,  and  she  returned  unto  him  to  the  ark ;  for 
the  waters  were  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth:  and  he  put 
forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  brought  her  in  unto  him  into 
the  ark.  10  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days;  and  again 
he  sent  forth  the  dove  out  of  the  ark;  11  and  the  dove  came 
in  to  him  at  eventide;  and,  lo,  in  her  mouth  an  olive-leaf 
plucked  off:  so  Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were  abated  from 
off  the  earth.  12  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days,  and 
sent  forth  the  dove;  and  she  returned  not  again  to  him  any 
more. 

"  13  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  six  hundred  and  first  year, 
in  the  first  month,  the  first  day  of  the  month,  the  waters  were 
dried  up  from  off  the  earth:  and  Noah  removed  the  covering 
of  the  ark,  and  looked,  and  behold,  the  face  of  the  ground  was 
dried.  14  And  in  the  second  month,  on  the  seven  and 
twentieth  day  of  the  month,  was  the  earth  dry.  15  And  God 
spake  unto  Noah,  saying,  16  Go  forth  from  the  ark,  thou,  and 
thy  wife,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  sons'  wives  with  thee.  17 
Bring  forth  with  thee  every  living  thing  that  is  with  thee  of 
all  flesh,  both  birds,  and  cattle,  and  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth ;  that  they  may  breed  abundantly  in 
the  earth,  and  be  fruitful,  and  multiply  upon  the  earth.  18 
And  Noah  went  forth,  and  his  sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his 
sons'  wives  with  him:  19  every  beast,  every  creeping  thing, 
and  every  bird,  whatsoever  moveth  upon  the  earth,  after 
their  families,  went  forth  out  of  the   ark. 

"20  And  Noah  builded  an  altar  unto  Jehovah,  and  took  of 
every  clean  beast,  and  of  every  clean  bird,  and  offered  burnt- 
offerings  on  the  altar.  21  And  Jehovah  smelled  the  sweet 
savor;  and  Jehovah  said  in  his  heart,  I  will  not  again  curse 
the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake,  for  that  the  imagination 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 


169 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT CONTINUED. 

[110]     The  tilled  land  was  become  iike  the  waste, 
[ill]     I  opened  the  window,  and  daylight  fell  upon  my 

cheeks ; 
[112]     Crouching  I  sit    (and)    weep; 
[113]     Over  my  cheeks  course  my  tears. 
[114]     I   looked   at  the  quarters    (of  heaven),  the  borders   of 

the  sea ; 
[115]     Toward  the  twelfth  point  rose  the  land. 
[116]     To  the  country  of  Nizir  the  ship  made  way; 
[117]     The  mountain  of  the  country  of  Nizir  caught  the  ship, 

and  suffered  it  not  to  stir. 
[118]     One  day,  a  second  day,  the  mountain  of  Nizir,  etc.   (as 

before)  ; 
[119]     A  third  day,  a  fourth  day,  the  mountain  of  Nizir,  etc. 

(as  before) ; 
[120]     A   fifth,   a   sixth,  the   mountain  of   Nizir,  etc.    (as   be- 
fore). 
[121]     But,  when  the  seventh  day  was  come, 
[122]     I  brought  out  a  dove    (and)    let  it  go. 
[123]     The  dove  went  to  and  fro,  but 

[124]      Found  no  foothold   (///.  standing-place),  and  returned 
[125]     Then  I  brought  out  a  swallow    (and)   let  it  go. 
[126]     The  swallow  went  to  and  fro,  but 
[127]     Found   no   foothold,    and    returned. 
[128]     Then  I  brought  out  a  raven  (and)   let  it  go: 
[129]     The  raven  went  off,  noticed  the  drying  of  the  water, 

and 
[130]      Feeding,  wading,  croaking,   returned   not. 
[131]     Then  I   brought  out    (everything)    to  the  four  winds, 

offered  victims, 
[132]     Made  an  offering  of  incense  on  the  mountain  top; 
[133]      Seven  and  seven  tripods  I  set, 
[134]     Into   their   bowls    I    poured    calamus,    cedar,    fragrant 

herbs; 


lyo  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

BIBLICAL   ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth ;  neither  will  I  again 
smite  any  more  everything  living,  as  I  have  done.  22  While 
the  earth  remaineth,  seedtime  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat, 
and  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease. 

"  IX.  And  God  blessed  Noah  and  his  sons,  and  said  unto 
them,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth.  2 
And  the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of  you  shall  be  upon  every 
beast  of  the  earth,  and  upon  every  bird  of  the  heavens;  with 
all  wherewith  the  ground  teemeth,  and  all  the  fishes  of  the 
sea,  into  your  hand  are  they  delivered.  3  Every  moving 
thing  that  liveth  shall  be  food  for  you ;  as  the  green  herb 
have  I  given  you  all.  4  But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof,  which 
is  the  blood  thereof,  shall  ye  not  eat.  5  And  surely  your 
blood,  the  blood  of  your  lives,  will  I  require;  at  the  hand  of 
every  beast  will  I  require  it:  and  at  the  hand  of  man,  even 
at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother,  will  I  require  the  life 
of  man.  6  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed:  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man.  7  And 
you,  be  ye  fruitful,  and  multiply;  bring  forth  abundantly  in 
the  earth,  and  multiply  therein. 

"  8  And  God  spake  unto  Noah,  and  to  his  sons  with  him, 
saying,  9  And  I,  behold,  I  establish  my  covenant  with  you, 
and  with  your  seed  after  you;  10  and  with  every  living  crea- 
ture that  is  with  you,  the  birds,  the  cattle,  and  every  beast  of 
the  earth  with  you;  of  all  that  go  out  of  the  ark,  even  every 
beast  of  the  earth.  11  And  I  will  establish  my  covenant  with 
you ;  neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters 
of  the  flood;  neither  shall  there  any  more  be  a  flood  to  de- 
stroy the  earth.  12  And  God  said,  This  is  the  token  of  the 
covenant  which  I  make  between  me  and  you  and  every  living 
creature  that  is  with  you,  for  perpetual  generations:  13  I  do 
set  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a 
covenant  between  me  and  the  earth.  14  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  when  I  bring  a   cloud  over  the  earth,  that  the  bow 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  1 71 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT — CONTINUED. 

[135]     The  gods  snuffed  the  odour, 

[136]     The   gods   snuffed  the   pleasant  odour, 

[137]     The  gods  like  files  swarmed  above  the  sacrificer. 

[138]     But  when   Ishtar  was  come  from   afar, 

[139]  She  lifted  up  the  Great  Gems  (?),  which  Anu  had 
made  to  adorn  her. 

[140]  'These  gods'  (she  cried),  'by  mine  azure  collar  (///. 
by  the  lapis  lazuli  of  my  neck),  I  will  never  forget! 

[141]  These  days  will  I  bear  in  mind,  and  nevermore  for- 
get! 

[142]     Let  the  gods  go  to  the  incense-offering! 

[143]      (But)   let  Bel  never  go  to  the  incense-offering! 

[144]      Forasmuch  as  he  took  no  counsel,  but  caused  the  flood, 

[145]     And  delivered  my  people  to  destruction.' 

[146]     But  when  Bel  was  come  from  afar, 

[147]     He  saw  the  ship,  and  Bel  waxed  wrathful; 

[148]  He  was  filled  with  rage  at  the  gods,  (and)  the  Igigi 
{i.e.  the  spirits  of  heaven)  : 

[149]     'Some  soul'    (he  cried)    'hath   escaped! 

[150]     Let  not  a  man  survive  the  destruction!' 

[151]     Ninib  frameth  his  mouth  and  speaketh — 

[152]     He  saith  to  the  warrior  Bel: 

[153]     'Who  then  but  la  doeth  the  thing? 

[154]     la  is  versed  in  every  wile.' 

[155]     la  frameth  his  mouth  and  speaketh — 

[156]     He  saith  to  the  warrior  Bel: 

[157]     'Thou,  O  sage  of  the  gods   (and)   warrior — 

[158]  In  nowise  hast  thou  been  well-counselled  in  causing 
a  flood ! 

[159]     On  the  sinner  lay  his  sin! 

[160]     On  the  guilty  lay  his  guilt! 

[161]  (But)  remit  (somewhat)  !  let  him  not  be  cut  off!  for- 
bear! let  him  not  [be  swept  away]  ! 

[162]     Instead  of  thy  causing   a   flood, 


172  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

BIBLICAL  ACCOUNT CONCLUDED. 

shall  be  seen  in  the  cloud,  15  and  I  will  remember  my  cove- 
nant, which  is  between  me  and  you  and  every  living  creature 
of  all  flesh;  and  the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to 
destroy  all  flesh.  16  And  the  bow  shall  be  in  the  cloud;  and 
I  will  look  upon  it,  that  I  may  remember  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant between  God  and  every  living  creature  of  all  flesh  that 
is  upon  the  earth,  17  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  This  is  the 
token  of  the  covenant  which  I  have  established  between  me 
and  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth." 

Following  is  the  account  by  Berosus,  a  Chaldean 
priest  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great 
and  his  immediate  successors: — 

"After  the  death  of  Ardates,  his  son  Xisuthrus 
reigned  18  sari.  In  his  time  happened  a  great  Deluge, 
the  history  of  which  is  thus  described :  The  Deity, 
Cronos,  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  warned  him 
that  upon  the  15  day  of  the  month  Daesius  there 
would  be  a  flood,  by  which  mankind  would  be  destroyed. 
He,  therefore,  enjoined  him  to  write  a  history  of  the 
beginning,  procedure  and  conclusion  of  all  things;  and 
to  bury  it  in  the  City  of  the  sun  at  Sippara ;  and  to 
build  a  vessel,  and  take  with  him  into  it  his  friends  and 
relations;  and  to  convey  on  board  everything  necessary 
to  sustain  life,  together  with  all  the  different  animals, 
both- birds  and  quadrupeds,  and  trust  himself  fearlessly 
to  the  deep.  Having  asked  the  Deity  whither  he  was 
to  sail,  he  was  answered,  '  To  the  Gods  ';  upon  which 
he  offered  up  a  prayer  for  the  good  of  mankind.     He 


[i63] 

[164] 

[165] 

[166] 

[167] 

[168] 

[169] 

[170] 

[171] 

[172] 

[173] 

[174] 

[175] 

[176] 

[1773 

[178] 

[179] 

[180] 

Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  ly^ 


CUNEIFORM    ACCOUNT — CONCLUDED. 

Let  the  lion  come  and  minish  mankind! 

Instead  of  thy  causing  a  flood, 

Let  the  Leopard  come  and  minish  mankind! 

Instead  of  th}'  causing  a  flood, 

Let  famine  break  out  and    [desolate]   the  land. 

Instead  of  thy  causing  a  flood, 

Let  pestilence  (///.  Girra;  i.e.  the  god  of  plague)  come 

and   slay  mankind ! 
I  divailged  not  the  decision  of  the  mighty  gods; 
(Someone)   caused  Atranasis  to  see  visions,  and  so  he 

heard  the  decision  of  the  gods.' 
Thereupon  he  took  counsel  with  himself   {or  made  up 

his  mind)  ; 
Bel  came  on  board  the  ship. 

Seized  my  hand  and  led  me  up   (out  of  the  ship). 
Let  up  my  wife    (and)    made  her  kneel  beside  me; 
He  turned  us  face  to  face,   and   standing  between   us 

blessed  us,   (saying)  : 
'  Ere  this,  Nuh-napishtim  and  his  wife  shall  be  like  us 
But  now  Nuh-napishtim  and  his  wife  shall  be  like  us 

gods ! 
Nuh-napishtim  shall  dwell   far  away    (from  men),  at 

the  mouth  of  the  rivers!' 
Then  they  took  me,  and  made  me  dwell  far  awa;%  at 

the  mouth  of  the  rivers." 


174  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

then  obeyed  the  Divine  admonition,  and  built  a  vessel 
five  stadia  in  length  and  two  in  breadth.  Into  this  he 
put  everything  which  he  had  prepared :  and  last  of  all 
conveyed  into  it  his  wife,  his  children  and  his  friends. 

"After  the  Flood  had  been  upon  the  earth,  and  was 
in  time  abated,  Xisuthrus  sent  out  birds  from  the  vessel, 
which,  not  finding  any  food  nor  any  place  whereupon 
they  might  rest  their  feet,  returned  to  him  again.  After 
an  interval  of  some  days  he  sent  them  forth  a  second 
time,  and  they  now  returned  with  their  feet  tinged  with 
mud.  He  made  a  trial  a  third  time  with  these  birds, 
but  they  returned  to  him  no  more :  from  whence  he 
judged  that  the  surface  of  the  earth  had  appeared  above 
the  waters.  He,  therefore,  made  an  opening  in  the 
vessel,  and  upon  looking  out  found  that  it  was  stranded 
upon  the  side  of  some  mountain,  upon  which  he  imme- 
diately quitted  it  with  his  wife,  his  daughter  and  the 
pilot.  Xisuthrus  then  paid  his  adoration  to  the  earth, 
and,  having  constructed  an  altar,  offered  sacrifice  to  the 
gods,  and,  w^ith  those  who  had  come  out  of  the  vessel 
with  him,  disappeared. 

"  They,  who  remained  within,  finding  that  their  com- 
panions did  not  return,  quitted  the  vessel  with  many 
lamentations,  and  called  continually  on  the  name  of 
Xisuthrus.  Him  they  saw  no  more;  but  they  could  dis- 
tinguish his  voice  in  the  air,  and  could  hear  him  admon- 
ish them  to  pay  due  regard  to  religion ;  and  likewise 
informed  them  that  it  was  upon  account  of  his  piety 
that  he  was  translated  to  live  with  the  gods,  that  his 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  175 

wife  and  daughter  and  the  pilot  had  obtained  the  same 
honor.  To  this  he  added  that  they  should  return  to 
Babylonia,  and,  as  it  was  ordained,  search  for  the 
writings  at  Sippara,  which  they  were  to  make  known 
to  all  mankind;  moreover,  that  the  place  wherein  they 
then  were  was  the  land  of  Armenia. 

"  The  rest  having  heard  these  words,  offered  sacri- 
fices to  the  gods,  and,  taking  circuit,  journeyed  toward 
Babylonia. 

"  The  vessel  being  thus  stranded  in  Armenia,  some 
part  of  it  yet  remains  in  the  Corcyraean  mountains." 

By  way  of  comparison,  it  is  instructive  to  notice: — 

1.  That  the  cuneiform  inscription  is  from  start  to 
finish  polytheistic  (lines  3-17),  whereas  the  narrative 
in  Genesis  is  monotheistic. 

2.  The  cuneiform  agrees  with  the  biblical  narrative 
in  making  the  Deluge  a  divine  punishment  for  the 
wickedness  of  the  world  (lines  5,  6). 

3.  The  names  differ  to  a  degree  that  is  irreconcila- 
ble with  our  present  knowledge. 

'  4.  The  dimensions  of  the  ark  as  given  in  Genesis 
(vi.  15)  are  reasonable,  while  those  of  Berosus  and  the 
cuneiform  tablets  are  unreasonable.  According  to 
Genesis,  the  ark  was  300  cubits  (562  1-2  feet)  long, 
50  cubits  (93  2-3  feet)  wide,  and  30  cubits  (56  1-4) 
deep,  which  are  the  natural  proportions  for  a  ship  of 
that  size,  being  in  fact  very  close  to  those  of  the  great 


176  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

steamers  which  are  now  constructed  to  cross  the  At- 
lantic.- The  Celtic  of  the  White  Star  line,  built  in 
1 901,  is  700  feet  long,  75  feet  wide,  and  49  1-3  feet 
deep.  The  dimensions  of  the  Great  Eastern,  built  in 
1858  (692  feet  long,  83  feet  broad,  and  58  feet  deep), 
are  still  closer  to  those  of  the  ark.  The  cuneiform  tab- 
lets represent  the  length,  width,  and  depth  each  as  140 
cubits  (262  feet),  (lines  22,  23,  38-41),  the  dimen- 
sions of  an  entirel}^  unseaworthy  structure.  According 
to  Berosus,  it  was  five  stadia  (3,000  feet)  and  two 
stadia  (1,200  feet)  broad;  while  Origen  represented 
it  to  be  135,000  feet  (25  miles)  long,  and  3,750  feet 
(3-4  mile)  wide.^ 

5.  In  the  biblical  account,  nothing  is  introduced 
conflicting  with  the  sublime  conception  of  holiness  and 
the  peculiar  combination  of  justice  and  mercy  ascribed 
to  God  throughout  the  Bible,  and  illustrated  in  the 
general  scheme  of  providential  government  manifest  in 
the  order  of  nature  and  in  history ;  while,  in  the  cunei- 
form tablets,  the  Deluge  is  occasioned  by  a  quarrel 
among  the  gods,  and  the  few  survivors  escape,  not  by 
reason  of  a  merciful  plan,  but  by  a  mistake  which 
aroused  the  anger  of  Bel  (lines  146-150). 

6.  In  all  the  accounts,  the  ark  is  represented  as 
floating  up  stream.  According  to  Genesis,  it  was  not, 
as  is  usually  translated,  on  "  Mount  Ararat  "  (viii.  4), 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  177 

but  in  the  "  mountains  of  Ararat,"  designating  an  in- 
definite region  in  Armenia  upon  which  the  ark  rested ; 
according  to  the  inscriptions,  it  was  in  Nizir  (lines 
115— 120),  a  region,  in  close  proximity  to  Ararat,  which 
is  watered  by  the  Zab  and  the  Tornadus;  while,  accord- 
ing to  Berosus,  it  was  on  the  Corcyraean  Mountains, 
included  in  the  same  indefinite  area.  In  all  three  cases, 
its  resting-place  is  in  the  direction  of  the  headwaters  of 
the  Euphrates  Valley,  while  the  scene  of  the  building 
is  clearly  laid  in  the  lower  part  of  the  valley. 

7.  Again,  in  the  biblical  narrative,  the  spread  of 
the  water  floating  the  ark  is  represented  to  have  been 
occasioned,  not  so  much  by  the  rain  which  fell,  as  by 
the  breaking-up  of  "  all  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep"  (vii.  11),  which  very  naturally  describes  phe- 
nomena connected  with  one  of  the  extensive  downward 
movements  of  the  earth's  crust  w^ith  which  geology  has 
made  us  familiar.  The  sinking  of  the  land  below  the 
level  of  the  ocean  is  equivalent,  in  its  effects,  to  the 
rising  of  the  water  above  it,  and  is  accurately  expressed 
by  the  phrases  uses  in  the  sacred  narrative.  This  ap- 
pears, not  only  in  the  language  concerning  the  breaking- 
up  of  the  great  deep  which  describes  the  coming-on  of 
the  Flood,  but  also  in  the  description  of  its  termina- 
tion, in  which  it  is  said,  that  the  "  fountains  of  the 
deep  ....  were  stopped,  .  .  .  and  the  waters  returned 


178  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

from  off  the  earth  continually  (viii.  2,  3).     Nothing  is 
said  of  this  in  the  other  accounts. 

8.  The  cuneiform  tablets  agree  in  general  with  the 
two  other  accounts  respecting  the  collecting  of  the  ani- 
mals for  preservation,  but  differ  from  Genesis  in  not 
mentioning  the  sevens  of  clean  animals  and  in  including 
others  beside  the  family  of  the  builder  (lines  66-69). 

9.  The  cuneiform  inscription  is  peculiar  in  provid- 
ing the  structure  with  a  mast,  and  putting  it  in  charge 
of  a  pilot  (lines  45,  70,  71). 

10.  The  accounts  differ  decidedly  in  the  duration 
of  the  Flood,  According  to  the  ordinary  interpretation 
of  the  biblical  account,  the  Deluge  continued  a  year 
and  seventeen  days;  whereas,  according  to  the  cunei- 
form tablets,  it  lasted  only  fourteen  days  (lines  103- 
107,  117-122). 

11.  All  accounts  agree  in  sending  out  birds;  but, 
according  to  Genesis  (viii.  7),  a  raven  was  first  sent 
out,  and  then  in  succession  two  doves  (viii.  7-12)  ; 
while  the  cuneiform  inscription  mentions  the  dove  and 
the  raven  in  reverse  order  from  Genesis,  and  adds  a 
swallow  (lines  1 21-130). 

12.  All  accounts  agree  in  the  building  of  an  altar 
and  offering  a  sacrifice  after  leaving  the  ark.  But  the 
cuneiform   inscription    is   overlain   with   a   polytheistic 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  179 

coloring:     "  The  gods  like  flies  swarmed  about  the  sac- 
rifices "   (lines  132-143). 

13.  According  to  the  biblical  account,  Noah  sur- 
vived the  Flood  for  a  long  time ;  whereas  Nuh-napishtim 
and  his  wife  were  at  once  deified  and  taken  to  heaven 
(lines  177-180). 

14.  Both  accounts  agree  in  saying  that  the  human 
race  is  not  again  to  be  destroyed  by  a  flood  (Gen.  ix. 
II ;  lines  162-169). 

Close  inspection  of  these  peculiarities  makes  it  evi- 
dent that  the  narrative  in  Genesis  carries  upon  its  face 
an  appearance  of  reality  which  is  not  found  in  the 
other  accounts.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  reason- 
able dimensions  of  the  ark,  its  floating  up  stream,  and 
the  references  to  the  breaking-up  of  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  should  have  been  hit  upon  by  accident.  It 
is  in  the  highest  degree  improbable  that  correct  state- 
ments of  such  unobvious  facts  should  be  due  to  the 
accident  of  legendary  guesswork.  At  the  same  time, 
the  duration  of  the  Deluge,  according  to  Genesis,  af- 
fords opportunity  for  a  gradual  progress  of  events  which 
best  accords  with  scientific  conceptions  of  geological 
movements.  If,  as  the  most  probable  interpretation 
would  imply,  the  water  began  to  recede  after  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  daj^s  from  the  beginning  of  the  Flood, 
and  fell  fifteen  cubits  in  seventy-four  days,  that  would 


l8o  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

be  only  three  and  two-thirds  inches  per  day, — a  rate 
which  would  be  imperceptible  to  an  ordinary  observer. 
Many  years  ago,  a  friend  who  had  given  very  care- 
ful attention  to  all  the  details  of  the  narrative,  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  basis  of  the  biblical  account 
is  the  log-book  that  was  kept  on  the  ark.  His  presen- 
tation of  the  case  is  scientific  and  convincing.  We  are 
happy  to  be  permitted  to  transmit  it  in  full.* 

"  The  record  says  that  Noah  entered  the  ark  the 
seventeenth  day  of  the  second  month,  and  that  it  be- 
gan at  once  to  rain,  and  rained  forty  days,  and  then 
ceased,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  the  third  month. 
Before  it  stopped,  the  record  gives  these  particulars: 
( I )  the  ark  soon  began  to  float ;  ( 2 )  the  ark  went 
floating  on  the  waters  driven  by  strong  winds;  (3)  it 
touched  bottom  on  the  top  of  what  later  seemed  to  be 
the  highest  mountain  in  sight,  on  the  seventeenth  day 
of  the  seventh  month. 

"  If  they  had  touched  land  somewhere  and  sailed 
from  it,  they  could  have  had  no  assurance  that  it  was 
the  top  of  a  high  mountain;  but  if,  on  that  day,  the  ark 
rested  and  remained  on  the  top  of  a  movmtain,  which, 
when  they  looked  out  later,  seemed  as  high  as  any  in 
sight,  they  would  naturally  say,  '  The  water  was  fifteen 
cubits  above  the  mountains.'  It  would  have  been  ab- 
surd for  any  later  writer  to  pretend  to  tell  just  how 
deep  the  water  was  over  the  mountain  top,  unless  from 
a  record  made  there.     There  seems  no  other  way  for 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  i8l 

any  one  to  have  known  except  as  suggested,  unless  by 
direct  revelation.  It  seems  as  though  Gen.  viii.  4  be- 
longs right  after  vii.  20,  or  that  it  should  be  translated, 
*  The  ark  had  rested.  .  .  .' 

"  We  are  then  told  that  the  vv^aters  prevailed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  days,  and  then  began  to  go  down. 
When  do  these  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  begin  ? 
At  the  beginning  or  the  end  of  the  forty  days  of  rain? 
It  is  not  certain.  But  the  writer  seems  to  teach  that  for 
forty  da5's  the  waters  were  conquering  the  earth,  and 
then  completely  triumphed  over  it  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  days  more.  Why  did  not  the  waters  begin  to 
abate  soon  after  the  rain  ceased,  instead  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  days  or  possibly  one  hundred  and  ten  days 
later?  To  those  in  the  ark  the  water  seemed  to  keep 
rising  three  months  and  twenty  days  after  it  stopped 
raining,  when  they  touched  bottom  on  Ararat,  and,  if 
I  read  it  rightly,  it  did  not  begin  to  abate  till  forty 
days  later,  and  they  would  know  at  once  when  the  wa- 
ter began  to  go  down  around  the  ark.  When  it  did 
could  only  be  known  in  the  ark.  They  said  that  it 
was  at  the  close  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  days. 
Who  could  have  got  up  such  a  legend  years  after? 

"  But  look  again  at  our  log-book  (vii.  11),  where  the 
writer  says  not  only  that  it  rained,  but  that  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up.  Evidently  it 
seemed  to  him  in  the  ark  that  not  only  the  rain  poured 
down,  but  that  the  sea  came  rushing  in  upon  them,  and 
he  does  not  say  till  viii.  3,  that  the  fountains  of  the 


l82  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

deep  were  stopped.  Evidently  It  seemed  to  him  that 
the  incoming  and  outgoing  deeps  had  more  to  do  with 
the  flood  than  the  rain.  If  there  had  been  no  sinking 
and  rising  of  the  land  to  produce  this  phenomenon,  it 
is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  flood  would  not  have 
begun  to  subside  sooner  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
or  even  one  hundred  and  ten  days  after  the  forty  days 
of  rain.  But  in  the  ark  they  would  naturally  record 
the  exact  date  they  felt  the  water  beginning  to  lower 
around  them. 

"  Thirty-four  daj's  after  the  waters  began  to  settle 
(seventy-four,  if  we  count  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
from  the  beginning  of  the  flood),  on  the  first  day  of  the 
tenth  month,  Noah  records  that  the  top  of  this  moun- 
tain is  above  the  water.  The  ark  stands  on  dry  land. 
It  must  have  brought  a  joy  never  to  be  forgotten. 
Surely  they  would  give  the  exact  date  thereof.  So  the 
water  has  settled  just  fifteen  cubits.  Forty  daj^s  later, 
on  the  eleventh  day  of  the  eleventh  month,  he  sent  out 
a  raven,  and  it  returned  not.  On  the  eighteenth  he 
sent  out  a  dove,  but  it  hastened  back.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  he  sent  it  out  again,  and  it  brought  back  a  fresh- 
picked  olive  leaf.  On  the  second  of  the  twelfth  month 
he  sent  it  out  again,  and  it  returned  no  more.  Twenty- 
nine  days  later,  on  the  first  day  of  the  year,  perhaps  his 
birthday,  he  for  the  first  time  removed  the  covering  of 
the  ark,  and,  looking  in  every  direction,  could  see  no 
body  of  water.  How  natural  to  take  such  a  look  and 
make  such  a  record  on  that  day!     Quietly  he  waited 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  183 

fifty-six  days  more.  Then  God,  who  had  shut  him  in 
one  year  before,  and  had  been  there  with  him,  opened 
the  door,  and  said,  *  Go  forth.' 

"■  noah's  log-book. 

NUMBER 
"  MONTH      DAY  OF    DAYS 

z  17     All  enter  the  ark,  God  shuts  the  door. 

Rains  fall.    Floods  pour  in  from  sea       40 

Ark  floats. 

Ark  sails  swiftly. 
3  27     Rain  stops. 

Floods  keep  pouring  in  and  water 

rising  no 

7  17     Ark  touches  bottom  on  top  of  high 

mountain  and  stays  there.   Waters 

stop    rising. 

Water  stationary  40 

8  27     Waters  begin  to  settle. 

Settle  fifteen  cubits  in  34 

10  I     Ark   left  on   dry  land. 

Waters  continue  to  settle.     Noah 

waits  40 

11  II     Xoah  sends  out  a  raven.     It  returns  not. 

Waters  settle,  Noah  waits  7 

II  18     Noah  sends  out  a  dove.     It  returns. 

Waters  settle,  Noah  waits  7 

II  25     Noah  sends  out  dove  again.     Dove 

brings  an  olive  leaf  just  grown. 

Waters  settle,  Noah  waits  7 

la  2     Noah  sends  out  dove  again.     It  re- 

turns not. 

Waters    settle,    Noah   waits  29 

I      "       I     Noah    removes    covering,    looks    all 

around. 


184  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

No  water  can  be  seen. 

Ground  dries  up.     Noah  waits  56 

2  27     God  opens  the  door,  and  says,  '  Go 

forth.' 

Total  time  of  flood  370." 

EXTENT  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

We  are  not,  however,  compelled  to  narrow  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  biblical  account  down  to  the  level  of 
a  hard-and-fast  prosaic  statement  of  dry  detail.  This 
whole  episode  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  was 
introduced  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  moral  purpose, 
which  is  enforced  in  the  story  by  literary  forms  cal- 
culated to  make  the  required  impression,  without  paus- 
ing to  gratify  curiosity  respecting  all  incidental  details. 
The  narrative  portions  are  extremely  condensed,  appar- 
ently limiting  themselves,  as  the  log-book  of  a  sea- 
captain  would  do,  to  the  most  clearly  marked  objective 
facts  of  observation,  without  effort  to  harmonize  them 
either  with  themselves  or  with  any  comprehensive  view 
of  the  universe.  The  expressed  object  of  the  Flood  may 
therefore  properly  be  permitted  to  limit  the  meaning  of 
many  of  the  general  phrases  introduced  into  the  vivid 
account.  This  is  so  plain  a  principle  of  interpretation 
that  it  would  seem  to  need  for  its  substantiation  little 
more  than  the  bare  statement.    But,  as  many  extremists 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  185 

on  both  sides  fail  to  appreciate  the  principle,  a  few 
words  may  profitably  be  devoted  to  its  illustration. 

Long  before  the  rise  of  geology  and  of  the  doubts 
w^hich  it  has  raised  concerning  the  contemporaneous  uni- 
versality of  the  Flood,  it  was  noted  by  various  learned 
commentators  that  the  biblical  account  of  the  Deluge 
bore  evidence  that  it  was  written  by  an  eye-witness,  and 
hence  should  be  interpreted  according  to  the  natural 
limitations  of  such  writing.  In  documents  thus  pre- 
pared, synecdoche  has  a  preeminent  place.  The  language 
describes  what  appears  to  the  senses,  and  does  not  go 
beyond  the  phenomena  which  are  visible.  It  does  not 
try  to  settle  minute  extraneous  questions.  Nothing  is 
more  common  than  this  figure  of  speech,  where  the  part 
is  put  for  the  whole,  and  the  horizon  which  limits  our 
vision  is  spoken  of  as  the  horizon  of  the  whole  world. 
It  falls  to  the  lot  of  scientific  interpreters  to  determine 
the  extent  to  which  this  figure  of  speech  legitimately 
modifies  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  text. 

All  the  universality  required  by  the  language  de- 
scribing the  Noachian  Deluge  would  seem  to  be  that 
which  is  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  os- 
tensible purpose,  namely,  such  a  destruction  of  the  hu- 
man race  that  history  could  begin  over  again  under 
new  conditions  of  heredity  and  environment.  Some  of 
the  general  phrases  used,   therefore,   may  properly  be 


1 86  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

defined  by  the  expressed  object  of  the  Divine  judgment, 
while  others  have  a  natural  boundary  in  the  horizon 
which  limits  the  writer's  knowledge  or  observation. 
The  objects  of  the  Flood  are  all  satisfied  if  the  de- 
struction of  the  human  race  with  the  exception  of 
Noah's  family  was  fully  accomplished." 

Respecting  this  point,  it  will  be  shown  later,  that 
it  would  be  diflficult  to  prove  that,  at  the  time  of  the 
Flood,  the  surviving  members  of  the  human  race  were 
not  limited  to  a  narrow  area  somewhere  in  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates,  For  example,  Hugh  Miller  and 
others  have  plausibly  urged  that  the  human  race  before 
the  Deluge  had  not  spread  very  far  from  its  original 
center,  and  that,  owing  to  its  great  wickedness,  it  had 
not  multiplied  so  as  to  secure  any  great  density  of  pop- 
ulation even  there.  While  this  is  possibly  the  case,  we 
shall  present  another  view,  which  will  be  supported  by 
many  recently  discovered  facts,  pointing  to  a  wide- 
spread destruction  of  antediluvian  man  in  connection 
wnth  recent  great  geological  changes  which  have  taken 
place  since  his  appearance  in  the  world.  These  consid- 
erations will  prepare  the  way  for  regarding  the  Noa- 
chian  Deluge  as  a  catastrophe  in  Central  Asia  closing 
a  series  which  had  then  possibly  restricted  the  human 
race  to  that  region.  In  this  attempt,  however,  we  are 
not  called  upon  to  prove  the  Flood  independent  of  his- 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  187 

tory,  but  simply  to  remove  objections  to  the  credibility 
of  the  history  raised  from  unwarranted  scientific  as- 
sumptions. 

Viewing  the  story  of  Genesis  as  the  account  of  a 
really  extensive,  but  comparatively  limited,  catastrophe 
in  Central  Asia,  to  which  the  survivors  of  the  human 
race  were  then  confined,  the  interpretation  of  the  gen- 
eral phrases  used  may  allowably  be  determined  by  the 
general  limitation  of  the  field  which  was  within  the 
reach  of  the  writer's  mental  vision.  Illustrations  of 
this  principle  are  familiar  enough.  When,  for  example, 
Job  describes  the  thunder  as  being  "  sent  forth  under 
the  whole  heaven,  and  his  lightning  unto  the  ends  of 
the  earth"  (Job  xxxvii.  3),  we  have  no  difficulty  in 
understanding  it  as  having  reference  simply  to  the 
whole  visible  horizon,  for  everybody  uses  similar  ex- 
pressions with  this  implied  limitation.  When  we  say, 
"  Everybody  knows  it,"  or  "  The  whole  country  turned 
out  to  see  him,"  we  have  no  difficulty  in  explaining  that 
these  phrases,  though  absolutely  general  in  their  form, 
are  yet  much  restricted  in  their  meaning. 

For  example,  we  are  told  in  Deut.  ii.  25,  that  the 
dread  and  fear  of  Israel  should  that  day  be  put  "  upon 
the  nations  that  are  under  the  whole  heaven."  But  the 
interpreter  who  should  insist  upon  the  absolute  literality 
of  such  a  phrase  would  prove  not  the  point  which  he  in- 


1 88  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

tended  to  prove,  but  rather  the  narrowness  of  his  own 
range  of  familiarity  with  literature.  So  when,  in  Gen. 
xli.  54  and  57,  it  is  said  that  there  was  a  famine  "  in 
all  lands,"  or  "  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  that 
"  all  countries  "  came  to  Egypt  to  buy  corn,  it  would 
be  only  an  interpreter  of  a  very  narrow  acquaintance 
with  literature  who  should  insist  that  the  language  was 
literal,  and  that  the  irrigated  plains  of  Babylonia  were 
as  dependent  upon  Egypt  as  were  the  hills  of  Judaea. 
So,  also,  when  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Kings  says 
that  Solomon  exceeded  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  for 
riches,  and  that  all  the  earth  sought  to  hear  his  wisdom ; 
and  when  the  Saviour  says  that  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
came  "  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,"  he 
would  be  a  very  narrow  and  ill-informed  interpreter 
who  should  insist  upon  the  strict  literality  of  the 
words.  In  Acts  ii.  25,  we  are  told  that  there  were 
present  in  Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  people 
"  out  of  every  nation  under  heaven,"  but  when  the 
enumeration  is  made  it  includes  only  the  region  extend- 
ing from  Italy  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  over  which  the 
Jews  are  known  to  have  spread.  When  Caesar  is  said 
to  have  taxed  "  all  the  world,"  and  we  say  that  it 
means  all  the  Roman  Empire,  we  should  not  be  con- 
strued to  assert  that  the  writer  supposed  there  were  no 
outlying  provinces  yet  unsubdued  by  the  Roman  power. 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  189 

And  so,  when  Paul  (in  58  a.d.)  asserts  that  the  faith 
of  the  church  at  Rome  was  already  "  spoken  of  through- 
out the  whole  cosmos,"  it  would  be  supremely  puerile 
to  insist  upon  the  bare  literal  interpretation  of  the 
words. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle  of  interpretation, 
we  are  permitted  to  regard  the  universal  statements 
concerning  the  Flood  as  being  the  language  of  appear- 
ance such  as  would  present  itself  to  eye-witnesses  of 
the  catastrophe,  and  limited  in  its  general  results  to 
the  main  purpose  for  which  it  came.  So  that  "  all  the 
mountains  and  hills  under  the  whole  heavens  "  may 
naturally  mean  all  those  within  the  horizon  of  the 
writer's  vision,  or  within  reach  of  his  knowledge,  or 
within  the  circle  which  was  then  inhabited  by  man.*^ 

THE  DATE   OF   THE   FLOOD. 

Before  entering  upon  the  direct  presentation  of  the 
facts  bearing  upon  the  question  in  hand,  it  will  be  best 
to  prepare  the  way  for  answering  one  other  objection, 
which  may  arise  on  the  score  of  chronology.  The  pres- 
ent discussion  will  proceed  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
date  of  the  Flood  may  be  placed  considerably  earlier 
than  that  given  by  the  ordinary  chronology  as  worked 
out  by  Archbishop  Usher,  or,  indeed,  as  it  would  be 
obtained  by  considering  merely  the  prima  facie  evidence 


igo  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis.  But  a  careful  study 
of  the  subject  will  show  that  the  genealogical  tables  in 
the  fifth  and  eleventh  chapters  are  not  designed  to  give 
chronological  data,  but  merely  to  indicate  lines  of  de- 
scent. The  character  of  these  tables  has  been  so  fully 
discussed  by  the  late  Professor  William  Henry  Green, 
that  we  may  content  ourselves  with  a  brief  summary  of 
his  arguments,  referring  to  the  elaborate  article  itself 
for  the  fuller  substantiation  of  the  conclusions  ar- 
rived at.'^ 

In  the  genealogies  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis, 
ten  generations  are  mentioned  between  Adam  and 
Noah,  and  the  age  of  the  parent  at  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  the  son  who  is  next  in  the  chain  is  in  each  case 
given ;  while  in  the  eleventh  chapter  ten  more  gener- 
ations between  Noah  and  Abraham  are  mentioned  in 
the  same  manner; — that  is,  the  age  of  the  parent  at 
the  birth  of  each  successive  son  is  given  in  definite  fig- 
ures ;  so  that,  by  adding  together  these  sums  to  the  date, 
of  Abraham  (which  is  191 8  B.C.),  as  Archbishop  Usher 
did,  we  get  the  dates  which  are  found  in  the  margins  of 
many  of  our  English  Bibles,  namely,  of  the  creation  of 
man,  4004  years  B.C.;  and  of  the  Flood,  2348  B.C. 
Upon  the  face  of  it,  it  looks  as  though  there  could  be 
here  no  way  of  avoiding  conflict  between  a  clear  Bible 
statement  and  the  result  of  modern  investigations  in 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  191 

geologj^  and  arch^eologJ^  which  give  a  much  higher 
antiquity  to  man  and  to  the  civilization  in  Egypt  and 
Babylonia;  for  these  chronological  data  in  the  gene- 
alogical tables  seem  to  be  linked  together  in  such  a  v^^ay 
that  there  is  no  lengthening  the  chain  without  alto- 
gether destroying  its  continuity. 

Close  study  of  the  subject,  however,  will  convince 
any  one  that  even  the  linked  genealogical  tables  of  these 
chapters  were  not  intended  by  the  writer,  nor  under- 
stood by  his  readers,  to  teach  a  definite  chronology,  but 
are  inserted  simply  to  show  lines  of  descent,  in  which 
any  number  of  intermediate  links  may  be  omitted  with- 
out interfering  with  the  purpose  of  the  tables.  This 
conclusion  is  based,  not  upon  mere  speculative  reasons, 
or  the  necessity  of  making  out  a  case,  but  upon  the 
manifest  usage  of  the  sacred  w^riters  in  numerous  other 
places,  and  upon  a  careful  consideration  of  the  tables 
themselves. 

As  one  of  the  most  instructive  examples,  we  may 
turn  our  attention  to  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew, 
where,  in  the  first  verse,  Christ  is  called  in  the  same 
breath  "  the  son  of  David  "  and  "  the  son  of  Abraham," 
after  which  the  com.plete  list  is  seemingly  given  in 
close  column,  extending  from  Abraham  down.  But  it 
is  noticeable  that  the  names  are  divided  into  three 
groups  of  fourteen  each.     To  bring  them  within  the 


192  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

limits  of  these  exact  numbers,  however,  we  find  that 
three  names  are  omitted  in  verse  8.  It  is  said  that 
"  Joram  begat  Ozias "  (Uzziah),  where  we  know 
from  the  book  of  Kings  that  three  names  have  been 
omitted — Ahaziah,  Joash,  and  Amaziah ;  while  again, 
in  verse  ii,  Jehoiakim  is  oxnitted  after  Josiah. 

What  now  is  it  reasonable  to  conclude  from  these 
passages?  Shall  we  say  that  the  writer  of  this  chapter 
did  not  knov/  of  the  existence  of  those  links  which  he 
dropped  out?  Certainly  not,  for  this  is  the  Gospel  that 
was  written  by  a  Hebrew,  and  both  he  and  his  readers 
had  ready  access  to,  and  were  devoted  believers  in, 
the  Old  Testament,  and  they  were  surrounded  by  Jew- 
ish opponents  who  would  readily  find  fault  with  any 
serious  misuse  of  it.  The  only  explanation,  therefore,  is 
that  all  were  so  familiar  with  the  use  of  genealogies  to 
indicate  simply  lines  of  descent,  without  any  reference 
to  chronology,  that  nobody  thought  of  raising  any 
question  concerning  such  use.  Interpreters,  therefore, 
should  learn  from  this  passage  to  be  on  their  guard 
against  making  chronological  use  of  similar  tables  in 
other  portions  of  Jewish  literature. 

Turning  to  the  Old  Testament  itself,  we  notice, 
among  others,  one  of  the  clearest  examples  in  i  Chron. 
xxvi.  24,  where  we  read  that  "  Shebuel  the  son  of  Ger- 
shom,  the  son  of  Moses,  was  ruler  over  the  treasures," 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  193 

and  again  in  i  Chron.  xxiii.  15,  16,  we  read  that  "  the 
sons  of  Moses  were  Gershom  and  Eliezer,  Of  the 
sons  of  Gershom  Shebuel  was  the  chief."  But  Shebuel 
was  appointed  over  the  treasury  by  David  four  hun- 
dred years  after  the  time  of  Moses ;  so  that  eight  or  ten 
generations  must  have  intervened  between  Gershom 
and  Shebuel.  Still,  notwithstanding  this,  the  identical 
term  is  used  twice  over,  in  expressing  the  relation  be- 
tween Moses  and  Gershom,  that  is  used  in  expressing 
that  between  Gershom  and  Shebuel.  Again,  in  Ezra 
vii.  1-5,  the  writer  of  this  book,  doubtless  with  full 
knowledge  of  what  was  written  in  the  Chronicles  be- 
fore him,  gives  Ezra's  genealogy  in  the  line  of  Aaron, 
but  in  the  table  skips  from  Meraioth  to  Azariah,  omit- 
ting six  names  which  appear  in  the  parallel  passage  in 
I  Chron.  vi.  3-14.  Here,  again,  it  would  be  absurd  to 
suppose  that  such  omissions  were  made  through  ignor- 
ance, since  they  created  no  disturbance  in  the  minds  of 
the  Jews  in  general  who  read  them.  They  simply  illus- 
trate what  were  the  familiar  usages  of  speech  among 
the  Jews. 

And  so  we  might  go  on  enumerating  a  dozen  other 
instances  in  which  similar  free  use  is  made  of  gene- 
alogical tables  where  it  is  clear  that  the  chronological 
questions  connected  with  them  are  not  taken  into  ac- 
count in  the  least.     The  condensation  of  genealogical 


194  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

tables  was  with  the  Jews  the  rule,  and  not  the  excep- 
tion. Manifestly  they  were  used  as  we  may  use  the 
phrase  "  sons  of  the  Pilgrims,"  where  everything  but 
the  line  of  descent  is  left  out  of  view.  Until,  with  Pro- 
fessor Green,  one  takes  pains  to  go  through  the  long 
list  of  genealogies  abbreviated  in  the  same  manner  in 
the  Old  Testament,  he  cannot  have  any  proper  con- 
ception of  how  frequent  this  use  is,  and  how  clear  the 
point  we  are  making  appears  from  the  facts. 

In  Professor  Green's  discussion  he  goes  on  further 
to  show,  that  not  only  is  there  no  difficulty  in  suppos- 
ing that  the  genealogical  tables  in  Gen.  v.  and  xi.  are 
abbreviated,  but  that  there  are  many  special  reasons  in 
the  tables  themselves  and  in  the  contexts  in  which  they 
occur,  to  show  that  this  is  really  the  case.  In  the  first 
place,  a  strict  literal  interpretation  of  the  first  genealog- 
ical table  (v.  3)  might  naturally  lead  us  to  infer  that 
Seth  was  Adam's  first  child.  The  only  way  in  which 
we  find  out  that  he  was  not,  is  from  the  history  of 
Cain  and  Abel  and  the  mention  of  a  wife  to  Cain  in  the 
preceding  chapter. 

Secondly,  no  chronology  is  ever  deduced  from  these 
tables  by  the  sacred  writers.  "  There  is  no  computa- 
tion anywhere  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  time  that 
elapsed  from  the  creation  or  from  the  Deluge,  as  there 
is  from  the  descent  into  Egypt  to  the  Exodus  (Ex.  xii. 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  195 

40),  or  irom  the  Exodus  to  the  building  of  the  temple 
(i  Kings  vi.  i)."  At  the  same  time,  the  prominence 
given  to  the  length  of  the  individual  lives  after  the 
birth  of  the  son  mentioned  shows  that  something  else 
than  chronology  was  what  the  writer  wished  to  impress 
upon  the  reader. 

Thirdly,  in  the  convincing  w^ords  of  Professor 
Green, — 

"  The  structure  of  the  genealogies  in  Gen.  v.  and  xi. 
also  favors  the  belief  that  they  do  not  register  all  the 
names  in  these  respective  lines  of  descent.  Their  reg- 
ularity seems  to  indicate  intentional  arrangement. 
Each  genealogy  includes  ten  names,  Noah  being  the 
tenth  from  Adam,  and  Terah  the  tenth  from  Noah, 
And  each  ends  with  a  father  having  three  sons,  as  is 
likewise  the  case  with  the  Cainite  genealogy  (iv.  17- 
22).  The  Sethite  genealogy  (chap,  v.)  culminates  in 
its  seventh  member,  Enoch,  who  '  walked  with  God, 
and  he  was  not,  for  God  took  him.'  The  Cainite  gene- 
alogy also  culminates  in  its  seventh  member,  Lamech, 
with  his  polygamy,  bloody  revenge,  and  boastful  arro- 
gance. The  genealogy  descending  from  Shem  divides 
evenly  at  its  fifth  member,  Peleg ;  '  and  in  his  days  was 
the  earth  divided.'  Now  as  the  adjustment  of  the  gene- 
alogy in  Matthew  i.  into  three  periods  of  fourteen  gen- 
erations each,  is  brought  about  by  dropping  the  requisite 
number  of  names,  it  seems  in  the  highest  degree  prob- 
able that  the  symmetry  of  these  primitive  genealogies 


196  Traditions  of  the  Deluge. 

is  artificial  rather  than  natural.  It  is  much  more  likely 
that  this  definite  number  of  names  fitting  into  a  regular 
scheme  has  been  selected  as  sufficiently  representing  the 
periods  to  which  they  belong,  than  that  all  these  strik- 
ing numerical  coincidences  should  have  happened  to 
occur  in  these  successive  instances." 

"  The  notion  of  basing  a  chronological  computation 
upon  these  genealogies  is,  therefore,  a  fundamental  mis- 
take. It  is  putting  them  to  a  purpose  that  they  were 
not  designed  to  subserve,  and  to  which  from  the  method 
of  their  construction  they  were  not  adapted.  But,  when 
it  is  said,  for  example,  that  '  Enosh  lived  ninety  years 
and  begat  Kenan,'  the  well-established  usage  of  the 
word  '  begat '  makes  his  statement  equally  true  and 
equally  accordant  with  analogy,  whether  Kenan  was 
an  immediate  or  remote  descendant  of  Enosh ;  whether 
Kenan  was  himself  born,  when  Enosh  was  ninety  years 
of  age,  or  one  was  born  from  whom  Kenan  sprang." 

In  other  w'ords,  Kenan  may  simply  have  been  a  remote 
descendant  of  the  branch  which  put  off  from  the  line 
of  Enosh  in  the  ninetieth  year. 

"We  conclude,  therefore  [saj^s  Professor  Green], 
that  the  Scriptures  furnish  no  data  for  a  chronological 
computation  prior  to' the  life  of  Abraham;  and  that 
the  Mosaic  records  do  not  fix  and  were  not  intended  to 
fix  the  precise  date  either  of  the  Flood  or  of  the  creation 
of  the  world." 

"  If,  therefore  [he  goes  on  to  say],  any  really  trust- 
worthy data  can  be  gathered  from  any  source  whatever^ 


Traditions  of  the  Deluge.  197 

which  can  be  brought  into  comparison  with  these  gene- 
alogies for  the  sake  of  determining  the  question, 
whether  they  have  noted  every  link  in  the  chain  of  de- 
scent, or  whether,  as  in  other  manifest  instances,  links 
have  been  omitted,  such  data  should  be  welcomed  and 
the  comparison  fearlessly  made.  Science  would  simply 
perform  the  office,  in  this  instance,  which  information 
gathered  from  other  parts  of  Scripture  is  unhesitatingly 
allowed  to  do  in  regard  to  those  genealogies  previously 
examined." 

Whereupon  he  proceeds  to  give  reasons,  from  archaj- 
ology  and  from  the  narrative  in  Genesis  itself,  going  to 
show  that  the  Flood  was  much  earlier  than  would  ap- 
pear from  the  chronology  ordinarily  obtained  from  the 
scriptural  language. 

After  this  much  of  attention  to  preliminary  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  proper  understanding  of  the  bib- 
lical account,  we  will  turn,  in  following  chapters,  to 
consider  the  vast  amount  of  evidence  which  has  recently 
come  to  light  showing  ( i )  that  there  has  been  a  period 
of  instability  of  the  earth's  crust  extending  down  to 
comparatively  recent  times,  which,  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,  renders  the  scriptural  account  of  the 
Flood  easily  credible;  (2)  that  some  such  wide-spread 
catastrophe  has  actually  occurred  since  the  advent  of 
man. 


198  Scientific   Credibility  of  the  Deluge. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

SCIENTIFIC  CREDIBILITY  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

The  main  evidence  of  the  Noachian  Deluge  must 
always  be  historical ;  but  it  is  the  prerogative  of  science 
to  consider  the  intrinsic  credibility  of  the  event,  and  so 
to  remove  unwarranted  prejudicial  bias.  With  this  in 
view,  we  will  limit  ourselves,  in  the  present  chapter,  to 
facts  bearing  upon  the  reasonable  credibility  of  the  sup- 
position, that,  since  man  came  into  the  world,  there  may 
have  been  changes  of  land-level  of  sufficient  extent  and 
rapidity  to  destroy  the  human  race,  and  fairly  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  biblical  narrative  when  properly 
interpreted.  The  adequate  discussion  of  this  point  calls 
for  a  somewhat  comprehensive  survey  of  geological  the- 
ories relating  to  the  general  stability  of  land-levels,  and 
of  the  causes  of  the  extensive  changes  of  level  which  all 
admit  to  have  taken  place.  The  first  of  these  has  to  do 
with  the  general  question  of  uniformity  in  the  action 
of  geological  forces.  It  will  be  in  place,  therefore,  at 
the  outset,  to  adduce  the  considerations  which  empha- 
size the  fact  that  the  stability  of  the  earth's  crust  is  by 
no  means  a  constant  quantity  throughout  all  time. 


Scientific   Credibility   of  the  Deluge.  199 

GEOLOGICAL  FORCES  ARE  FAR  FROM  UNIFORM  IN 
THEIR  ACTIVITY. 

Geologists  may  be  roughly  divided  into  three  classes, 
— Catastrophists,  Uniformitarians,  and  Evolutionists, 
The  Catastrophists  hold  that  nearly  all  the  changes  in 
the  earth's  surface  have  taken  place  with  great  rapidity. 
In  their  view,  the  species  which  succeed  each  other  in 
the  geological  strata  were,  each  and  all,  fresh  creations. 
At  each  geological  epoch,  according  to  the  Catastro- 
phists, the  board  was  swept  clean,  and  a  new  record 
spread  upon  its  surface.  The  mountains  were  upheaved 
by  a  single  stroke  of  divine  power,  and  the  foundations 
of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up  with  equal  suddenness. 
A  hundred  j^ears  ago  the  Catastrophists  held  the  field 
against  all  opponents.  Indeed,  their  theories  were 
scarcely  questioned  by  anybody. 

But,  largely  through  the  influence  of  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  in  the  publication  of  his  "  Principles  of  Geology  " 
in  1830,  the  Catastrophists  were  in  due  time  almost 
entirely  superseded  by  the  Uniformitarians.  These  hold 
that  the  present  is  a  perfect  measure  of  the  past, — that 
all  the  vast  geological  changes  to  which  the  earth's  crust 
bears  witness,  were  effected  by  the  slow  processes  which 
are  now  going  on.  With  this  view,  the  Uniformita- 
rians felt  free,  and  were  indeed  compelled,  to  make 
unlimited  drafts  upon  the  bank  of  time,  and  allot  bun- 


200  Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge. 

dreds  of  millions  of  years  to  a  single  geological  period, 
as  though  eternity  alone  limited  the  history  of  the 
earth's  changes.  In  one  of  Darwin's  famous  calcula- 
tions, 306,662,400  years  is  spoken  of  as  "  a  mere  trifle  " 
of  geologic  time.^ 

The  difference  between  these  two  theories  has  been 
well  set  forth  in  the  saying,  that  "  the  Catastrophists 
are  prodigal  of  force,  and  parsimonious  of  time;  while 
the  Uniformitarians  are  parsimonious  of  force,  and 
prodigal  of  time."  Indeed,  the  leading  Uniformitarians 
were  so  parsimonious  of  force  that  they  were  aptly  char- 
acterized as  "  the  homoeopathic  school  of  dynamics." 

The  more  attentive  study  of  the  facts,  and  the  more 
rational  attitude  of  mind,  which  characterize  the  open- 
ing of  the  twentieth  century,  are  bringing  into  promi- 
nence the  great  truth  which  lies  between  these  two 
extremes.  In  the  light  of  these,  it  is  seen  that  the 
processes  of  nature  cannot  be  comprehended  under 
either  of  the  foregoing  theories.  There  is,  in  fact,  no 
such  thing  as  uniformity  in  nature.  On  the  contrary, 
nature  is  a  continuous  series  of  changes  the  rate  of 
which  is  far  from  uniform.  Sometimes  these  changes 
proceed  for  a  long  period  at  a  rate  so  slow  that  its  steps 
seem  almost  infinitesimal,  while  at  other  times  they 
go  forward  with  leaps  and  bounds.  The  true  theory 
is  that  of  Evolution.     There  is  continuity  in  the  geolog- 


Scientific  Credibility  of  the  Deluge.  201 

ical  progression,  but  not  uniformity:  catastrophes  are 
by  no  means  unknown  in  nature." 

The  illustrations  of  this  principle  are  so  numerous 
and  familiar  that  it  seems  strange  that  it  should  ever 
have  been  overlooked.  In  every  great  movement,  there 
is  a  last  straw  which  "  breaks  the  camel's  back  "  and 
produces  visible  results  which  are  out  of  all  proportion 
to  what  had  before  been  apparent.  The  boiler  remains 
intact  under  increasing  steam  pressure  up  to  a  certain 
point,  before  which  the  successive  addition  of  pound 
after  pound  of  pressure  produces  no  apparent  change 
in  the  phenomena;  but,  upon  the  addition  of  another 
pound's  pressure,  it  bursts  into  a  thousand  fragments, 
and  shatters  everything  with  which  it  comes  in  con- 
tact. Or,  again,  the  bow  gradually  bends  to  every 
successive  increase  in  the  strain  to  which  it  is  subjected 
up  to  a  certain  point,  when  it  suddenly  snaps  in  the 
archer's  hands,  and  becomes  a  useless  piece  of  wood. 
In  either  case,  mathematicians  might  have  predicted 
the  results,  if  the  nature  of  the  forces  involved  had 
been  fully  known.  But  empirical  philosophy  which 
made  the  past  and  the  observed  narrow  present  a  full 
measure  of  the  future,  would  have  been  completely  at 
fault  in  its  predictions. 

Turning  to  greater  things  for  illustration,  we  may 
note  that,  previous  to  the  first  century  of  our  era,  the 


202  Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge. 

fires  of  Vesuvius  had  been  so  long  quiescent  tliat  all 
memory  of  their  former  activity  had  been  erased  from 
the  consciousness  of  mankind.  The  slopes  of  the  ex- 
tinct crater  were  covered  w^ith  vineyards  and  villas. 
The  cities  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  w^ere 
thronged  with  a  pleasure-seeking  crowd,  all  of  whom 
were  "  Uniformitarians,"  believing  that  "  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  all  things  had  remained  as  they 
were,"  and  that  the  present  was  a  full  measure  of  the 
future.  But,  in  the  year  63,  suddenly  this  feeling  of 
security  was  shocked  by  an  earthquake  which  shook 
down  palatial  residences  and  prostrated  defensive  walls 
which  from  time  immemorial  had  been  the  pride  of 
Southern  Italy.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  press- 
ure of  the  accumulating  gases  beneath  had  passed  the 
danger-point,  and  produced  a  catastrophe  of  the  most 
tragic  order. 

But  even  this  was  not  sufficient  to  disturb  the  false 
security.  Roman  capital  and  Roman  artists  poured 
into  the  desolated  city,  and  in  a  decade  rebuilt  it  on  a 
scale  of  still  more  magnificent  splendor.  In  freshly 
adorned  palaces  the  philosopher  retired  to  the  quiet  of 
these  unrivaled  pleasure-resorts,  to  ponder  upon  themes 
which  were  out  of  place  amid  the  every-day  affairs  of 
the  great  capital  on  the  Tiber ;  while  the  satirical  poet 
built  his  luxurious  residence  close  by,   from  which  to 


Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge.  203 

launch  his  keen  shafts  of  ridicule;  and  the  courtesan, 
in  a  neighboring  street,  shamelessly  flaunted  the  sign  of 
her  nefarious  enticements.  Thus,  literally,  a  whole 
city  full  of  pleasure-seekers  was  dancing  on  the  edge 
of  a  volcano. 

The  end  was  such  as  to  make  an  impression  which 
few  occurrences  in  history  have  done.  This  time  the 
struggling  vapors  beneath  found  relief,  not  in  an  earth- 
quake, but  in  dense  showers  of  volcanic  dust  and  in 
streams  of  lava.  Herculaneum  was  hermetically  sealed 
by  a  broad  sheet  of  basalt.  Pompeii  was  buried  be- 
neath showers  of  dust  and  ashes.  Moistened  by  the 
copious  rain  which  accompanied  the  eruption,  the  fine 
sediment  flowed  into  the  parlors  and  bedrooms  and 
workshops  and  prison-cells,  and  inclosed  the  inmates, 
making  casts  of  them  in  all  the  lifelike  attitudes  in 
which  they  w^ere  found.  Thus,  for  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years,  these  cities  lay  hid  from  view,  while  the 
gardens  and  vineyards  of  successive  generations  flour- 
ished on  the  rich  soil  above  the  houses  of  Pompeii,  and 
chariots  rumbled  unceasingly  on  the  natural  pavement 
made  by  the  incasing  sheet  of  lava  which  covered  the 
streets  of  Herculaneum.  During  much  of  this  period, 
Vesuvius  was  quiescent,  and,  for  a  while,  Spartacus, 
with  his  band  of  robbers,  found  a  ready-made  natural 
fortress  in  the  crater  of  this  historic  volcano. 


204  Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge, 

More  recently,  the  tragic  events  in  Martinique  and 
California  and  Chili  have  emphasized  the  same  great 
truth.  To  be  a  "  Uniformitarian  "  in  presence  of  such 
facts  requires  a  peculiar  definition  of  uniformity. 

But  to  measure  the  small  demands  made  on  our  cre- 
dulity by  the  story  of  the  Flood,  we  do  well  to  consider 
attentively  the  fact  that 

ALL   GEOLOGICAL    MOVEMENTS   ARE   COMPARA- 
TIVELY SLIGHT. 

It  is  almost  impossible  not  to  have  an  exaggerated 
idea  of  the  relative  greatness  of  the  changes  of  level  in 
the  earth's  surface  which  are  brought  to  light  by  geo- 
logic investigation.  When  we  read  of  the  actual 
changes  of  level  which  have  taken  place  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Tertiary  period,  for  example,  they  seem 
enormous.  Nearly  all  the  high  mountains  of  the  world 
are  the  result  of  that  period  of  land  elevation.  The 
Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  the  Himalayas,  the  Andes,  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  all  bear  upon  their  summits  deposits 
of  sea-shells  belonging  to  this  most  recent  geological 
epoch.  Since  the  middle  of  the  Tertiary  period,  all 
these  mountains  have  been  raised  to  their  present 
heights  from  the  level  of  the  sea.  Here  is  brought  to 
view  an  elevation  of  land  more  than  two  miles  in  ver- 
tical extent.     Nor  was  the  elevation   confined   to  the 


Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge.  205 

narrow  mountain-chains.  The  vast  plateaus  of  Cen- 
tral Asia  shared  in  the  movement;  while  the  extensive 
western  plains  of  the  United  States  from  the  Missis- 
sipi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  then  received  most  of 
their  elevation.  There  is  abundant  evidence,  also,  that 
Northeastern  America  and  Northwestern  Europe,  at 
the  close  of  that  period,  stood  from  two  thousand  to 
three  thousand  feet  higher  than  they  do  now.  Further- 
more, this  elevation  at  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period, 
which  was  coincident  with  the  coming-on  of  the  Gla- 
cial epoch,  soon  gave  place  to  a  subsidence  which  car- 
ried the  land  much  below  its  present  level.  At  the 
close  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  the  land  at  Montreal  was 
six  hundred  feet  low^er  than  it  is  now,  'and  farther  north 
one  thousand  feet  lower.  Deserted  post-glacial  sea- 
beaches  abound  in  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  up  to 
one  thousand  feet  above  present  sea-level.^ 

But  great  as  these  changes  of  level  in  the  earth's  crust 
have  actually  been,  they  are  relatively  very  small;  so 
that  one  may  well  wonder  how  the  delicate  equilibrium 
between  land  and  sea  which  is  essential  to  civilization, 
and  indeed  to  life,  is  secured.  The  earth  is  a  sphere 
eight  thousand  miles  in  diameter.  A  mountain-chain 
four  miles  high  produces  only  a  roughness  on  the  sur- 
face one-two-thousandth  part  of  this ;  while,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Denver,  the  plateau,  which  there  reaches  the 


2o6         Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge. 

elevation  of  about  a  mile,  produces  a  swelling  of  the 
circumference  amounting  to  only  one-eight-thousandth 
of  the  diameter.  Were  we  to  transfer  these  inequali- 
ties to  a  globe  ten  feet  in  diameter, — an  object,  by  the 
way,  which  would  leave  little  space  in  a  moderate-sized 
sitting-room, — the  roughness  of  the  surface  would  be 
hardly  appreciable:  the  plains  of  Denver  would  be 
represented  by  a  bulging  in  the  surface  of  only  about 
one-sixty-sixth  of  an  inch,  or  the  thickness  of  a  moder- 
ately thin  sheet  of  paper;  while,  if  these  irregularities 
were  represented  to  scale  on  a  globe  the  size  of  a  large 
apple,  they  would  become  indiscernible,  except  with  a 
microscope.  The  desiccation  of  an  apple  does  not  have 
to  go  far  to  produce  wrinkles  of  that  size.  The  irregu- 
larities on  the  earth's  surface  do  not  indicate  any  greater 
relative  changes  than  this  in  its  interior,  or  any  rela- 
tively greater  exertion  of  the  forces  stored  within  it. 

In  cheap  derision  of  the  biblical  Deluge,  we  often 
hear  it  said,  that  there  is  not  water  enough  in  existence 
to  cover  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains.  This  flip- 
pant remark  overlooks  the  fact  that  the  biblical  account, 
as  already  remarked,  represents  the  Flood  as  caused  not 
so  much  by  the  rising  of  the  water,  as  by  the  sinking  of 
the  land.  It  says  that  all  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  were  broken  up.  Now,  if  all  the  land  in  the  world 
.should  sink  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  it  would  raise 


Scientific   Credibility   of  the  Deluge.  207 

the  water-level  only  a  few  hundred  feet;  whereas,  the 
tide  regularly  rises  seventy  feet  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 
The  abstraction  of  the  water  from  the  ocean  during  the 
Glacial  epoch  to  be  locked  up  in  ice  over  the  northern 
hemisphere,  and  its  subsequent  return  on  the  melting  of 
the  ice  at  the  close  of  the  epoch,  produced  changes  in 
the  ocean  level  half  as  great  as  Noah's  flood  would 
have  done,  on  the  most  literal  interpretation  of  the  ac- 
count. 

That  we  may  not  overestimate  the  significance  of 
the  present  relative  stability  of  the  earth's  crust,  it  is 
in  place  to  consider  more  in  detail  the  known  extent  of 

SOME  RECENT  GREAT  GEOLOGICAL  CHANGES. 

Fortunately,  the  balance  of  geological  forces  is  so 
delicate  and  perfect  that  most  of  the  changes  on  the 
earth's  surface  take  place  slowly.  Otherwise  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  the  higher  forms  of  life  to  have 
maintained  their  existence.  But  there  are  many  facts 
which  bear  indubitable  witness  to  recent  geological 
movements  of  great  relative  rapidit}'.  Among  these 
may  be  enumerated  many  lake  basins  occupying  depres- 
sions in  the  earth's  surface.  Of  them  we  will  for  the 
present  speak  of  only  three  which  have  recently  come 
under  personal  observation,  namely.  Lake  Baikal,  and 
the  Aral  and  Dead  seas. 


2o8  Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge. 

Lake  Baikal  occupies  a  north-and-south  cleft  in  the 
broad  belt  of  elevated  table-land  which  extends  from 
Central  Asia  into  Northeastern   Siberia.     It  is  about 


Map  of  Lake  Baikal. 


four  hundred  miles  long  and  thirty  wide.  Its  elevation 
is  1,561  feet  above  the  sea,  but  the  mountains  on  either 
side  rise  to  a  height  of  from  four  thousand  to  seven 
thousand  feet.  The  mountain  barrier  on  the  west, 
however,  is  narrow,  and  penetrated  by  a  single  trans- 
verse cleft,  through  which  the  Angara  River  carries  the 
surplus  water  of  the  vast  drainage  basin  emptj'ing  into 


Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge.  20g 

the  lake.  But,  unlike  the  other  rivers  mentioned,  this 
has  by  no  means  kept  pace  in  erosion  with  the  elevation 
of  the  barrier.     It  still  has  much  to  do  before  it  obliter- 


Cross  Section  Showing  the  Depth  of  the  Southern 
Part  of  the  Lake. 


ates  the  rapids  which  separate  the  lake  from  the  more 
leisurely  current  of  the  river  fifty  miles  below,  at 
Irkutsk. 

Still  further,  the  present  depth  of  the  lake  is  signifi- 


2IO  Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge.  • 

cant.  While  the  northern  portion  is  shallow,  being 
only  a  few  hundred  feet  deep,  the  southern  portion 
runs  down  to  a  depth  of  4,186  feet,  or  nearly  three 
thousand  feet  below  sea-level.  The  significance  of  these 
facts  is  enhanced  by  those  relating  to  its  drainage  basin. 
This  covers  an  area  of  about  two  hundred  thousand 
square  miles,  and  is  served  by  the  Selenga,  the  Khilok, 
the  Uda,  and  the  Upper  Angara  (rivers  of  the  first  or- 
der), besides  numerous  smaller  streams.  These  all  come 
down  from  the  surrounding  high  granitic  table-lands 
with  a  gradient  which  makes  their  erosive  power  exces- 
sively large.  And  they  are  all  characterized  by  open 
eroded  channels  from  one  mile  to  several  miles  broad, 
with  a  depth  of  one  or  two  thousand  feet.  Evidently 
the  amount  of  sediment  brought  down  has  been  enor- 
mous,— enough  to  have  filled  the  bed  of  the  lake  many 
times  over.  The  most  of  this  sediment  was  formerly 
carried  past  the  area  now  occupied  by  Lake  Baikal,  and, 
consolidated  into  rock,  forms  the  extensive  plains  and 
the  mountain  border  surrounding  the  city  of  Irkutsk. 
The  great  depth  of  the  lake,  therefore,  and  indeed  its 
existence  at  all,  indicates  that  the  subsidence  of  its 
bottom  is  an  event  of  recent  geological  occurrence. 

Its  recentness  may  be  appreciated  by  the  following 
brief  calculation :  The  Selenga  River,  emptying  into 
Lake  Baikal  from  the  cast  about  one  hundred   miles 


Scientific   Credibility   of   the  Deluge.  21 1 

from  the  south  end,  drains,  as  we  have  said,  an  area  of 
two  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  The  mountainous 
plateau  in  which  this  vast  river  sj'stem  rises  is  fully 
three  thousand  feet  higher  than  the  surface  of  Lake 
Baikal,  giving  such  a  gradient  to  the  streams  that  their 
erosive  activitj'  would  be  considerably  above  that  of 
average  rivers.  Assuming,  however,  that  it  is  rela- 
tively the  same  as  that  in  the  Mississippi  basin,  we  shall 
be  able  to  make  an  approximate  calculation  which  can- 
not be  very  far  from  the  truth.* 

By  long  and  careful  experiments  conducted  by  Hum- 
phreys and  Abbot  for  the  United  States  Government, 
it  is  ascertained  that  the  sediment,  consisting  of  gravel, 
sand,  and  mud,  which  is  carried  by  the  Mississippi 
River  past  New  Orleans  is  sufficient  in  quantity  to  re- 
move one  foot  of  material  from  the  whole  Mississippi 
basin,  stretching  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Al- 
leghenies,  in  4,566  years.  All  this  material  is  being  de- 
posited along  the  margin  of  the  delta  which  the  river 
is  pushing  out  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  annual 
amount  of  solid  material  carried  out  by  the  river  is 
estimated  by  Dana  to  equal  a  mass  one  mile  square  and 
twenty-seven  feet  thick. 

In  the  more  mountainous  region  of  Northern  Italy, 
the  river  Po  is  bringing  sediment  down  to  the  head  of 
the  Adriatic  Sea  at  a  rate  which  would  remove  a  foot 


212  Scientific    Credibility    of   the  Deluge. 

of  material  from  its  entire  drainage  basin  once  in  every 
seven  hundred  years.  As  a  striking  tangible  evidence 
of  the  rapidity  of  this  erosion,  and  the  consequent  accu- 
mulation of  material  about  the  mouth  of  the  river,  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  the  city  of  Adria,  which  was  at 
an  early  period  a  port  of  such  importance  and  celebrity 
as  to  give  name  to  the  sea  on  which  it  stood,  is  now  six- 
teen miles  inland. 

But,  taking  even  the  lower  rate  of  the  Mississippi  as 
the  standard  for  that  of  the  Selenga  River,  we  shall 
arrive  at  results  which  are  sufficiently  instructive  and 
even  startling.  All  the  sediment  brought  down  by  the 
river  is  deposited  in  the  southern  quarter  of  Lake 
Baikal.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  average 
depth  of  this  basin  was  ever  more  than  one-half  mile. 
Taking  the  length  of  the  southern  quarter  of  the  lake 
basin  to  be  one  hundred  miles,  and  its  average  width 
thirty  miles,  which  are  both  liberal  allowances,  we 
should  have  fifteen  hundred  cubic  miles  of  space  to  be 
filled.  But,  on  the  basis  of  the  calculated  erosion  from 
the  drainage  area  of  the  Selenga  River  of  one  foot  in 
five  thousand  years,  forty  cubic  miles  of  sediment 
would,  in  round  numbers,  be  deposited  in  the  lake 
every  five  thousand  years. 

The  whole  portion  of  the  basin,  therefore,  in  which 
the  deposit  is  made,  would  be  filled  up  by  the  sediment 


Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge.  213 

in  187,500  years.  But  so  little  has  the  delta  encroached 
upon  the  lake,  that  it  is  certainly  not  one-fifth  full,  and 
probably  not  one-tenth  full.  The  extensive  geological 
changes,  therefore,  which  have  produced  this  great  ba- 
sin cannot  have  taken  place  more  than  40,000  years 
ago,  and  probably  not  20,000  years  ago,  and  may 
have  been  even  considerably  later.  Geologically,  the 
time  of  its  formation  was  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
Tertiary  or  the  beginning  of  the  Glacial  epoch.  Alto- 
gether this  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  convincing 
evidences  heretofore  adduced  of  the  recency  of  some  of 
the  most  extensive  geological  changes  which  the  world 
has  ever  witnessed,  while  it  is  difficult  to  see  any  way 
in  which  the  figures  can  be  very  greatly  enlarged. 

The  great  Aral-Caspian  depression  is  another  of 
those  vast  inclosed  basins  bearing  unmistakable  evi- 
dence of  recent  rapid  geological  changes  in  the  earth's 
surface.  In  this  case  a  region  nearly  as  large  as  the 
whole  United  States  is  without  any  outlet  to  the  ocean, 
and  is  subject  to*  an  evaporation  just  equal  to  the  rain- 
fall. The  surface  is  dotted  with  dried-up  lake  basins 
of  greater  or  lesser  size,  most  of  which  contain  salt 
beds  at  their  bottoms.  Under  these  conditions  one 
would  naturally  expect  to  find  the  water  of  the  Aral 
and  Caspian  seas  to  be,  like  that  of  the  Dead  Sea  and 


214         Scientific   Credibility   of  the  Deluge. 

Great  Salt  Lake,  salter  than  the  ocean.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  Caspian  Sea  is  only  one-third  as  salt  as  the 
ocean,  and  the  water  of  the  Aral  Sea  is  so  nearly  fresh 
that  animals  on  the  islands  freely  drink  it.  The  expla- 
nation is  that  the  oceanic  outlet  has  only  recently  ceased 
to  exist.  Previously  the  great  rivers  flowing  into  these 
basins  had  brought  in  so  much  fresh  water  that  an 
oceanic  outlet  was  a  necessity,  and  the  seas  were  partly 
freshened.  The  changes  which  have  diminished  the 
rainfall  and  increased  the  evaporation  have  been  so  re- 
cent that  there  has  not  been  time  for  the  seas  to  become 
saturated  with  salt,  like  most  inclosed  lakes.  All  the 
rivers  with  their  modicum  of  salt  are  continually  run- 
ning into  these  seas,  yet  their  waters  are  not  saturated. 
The  sure  inference  is  that  the  time  during  which  these 
agencies  have  been  acting  is  narrowly  limited.  The 
desiccation  of  this  vast  region  is  so  recent  that  the  time 
which  has  since  elapsed  must  be  estimated  in  thousands, 
or  certainly  in  tens  of  thousands,  rather  than  in  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  of  j'ears. 

This  conclusion  is  supported,  also,  by  the  geological 
evidences  that,  up  to  recent  times,  a  vast  inland  sea 
as  large  as  the  Mediterranean  occupied  the  interior  ba- 
sin of  Central  Asia  known  as  the  Desert  of  Gobi, 
around  which  extensive  shore-line  deposits  of  sedimen- 
tary material  are  reported  in  various  places.      More- 


Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge.  215 

over,  the  early  Chinese  records  refer  to  this  sea,  under 
the  name  of  Han  Hai,  as  still  covering  an  extensive 
area  within  the  historic  period.  Lob  Nor  is,  at  the 
present  time,  the  sole  remnant  of  this  body  of  water, 
indicating  a  recent  period  of  greater  rainfall  through- 
out Asia.^ 

In  'case  of  the  Dead  Sea,  we  have  a  depression  whose 
surface  is  thirteen  hundred  feet,  and  its  bottom  twenty- 
six  hundred  feet,  lower  than  the  surface  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, forty  miles  away.  But  the  isolation  has 
been  so  long  continued  that  the  water  of  the  Dead  Sea 
is  saturated  with  salts  of  every  kind.  Evidence  of  the 
recentness  of  the  formation  of  this  deep  basin  is,  how- 
ever, unmistakable.  The  Jordan,  though  clear  when 
issuing  from  Lake  Galilee,  becomes,  before  reaching 
the  Dead  Sea,  one  of  the  muddiest  of  rivers ;  while 
numerous  wadies  of  large  extent,  which  are  periodically 
gorged  with  water,  making  them  eroding  and  trans- 
porting agencies  of  the  most  efficient  kind,  come  down 
into  it  from  the  highlands  on  either  side.  For  example, 
the  bed  of  Wady  Zuweirah,  which  enters  the  Dead 
Sea  just  north  of  Jebel  Usdum,  having  a  width  of 
about  one  thousand  feet,  is  covered  with  boulders  a 
foot  and  more  in  diameter,  which  have  been  rolled  some 
distance  over  a  nearly  level  plain.     During  most  of  the 


2l6  Scientific   Credibility    of   the   Deluge. 

year,  there  is  scarcely  any  water  in  the  channel.  But 
evidently  there  are  periodical  floods  of  great  violence, 
and  it  is  they  that  accomplish  most  of  the  erosion  of 
the  highlands,  and  corresponding  sedimentation  of  the 
lake  basins  in  which  they  terminate.  Why,  then,  has 
not  the  present  basin  of  the  Dead  Sea  been  filled  up 
with  sediment?  Evidently  because  the  bottom  of  the 
lake  has  fallen  out  in  recent  geological  times. 

From  the  size  of  the  drainage  basin,  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  Dead  Sea  itself,  and  from  the  rate  at 
which  sediment  is  being  carried  into  the  sea,  it  will  ap- 
pear, upon  calculation,  that  fifty  thousand  years  is  a 
longer  period  than  has  probably  elapsed  since  the  ex- 
treme depression  of  the  Dead  Sea  was  formed.*'  Evi- 
dently it  is  a  region  in  which  geological  forces  have 
been  active  with  enormous  intensity  in  comparatively 
recent  times. 

THE    LATEST    GEOLOGICAL    EPOCH,    ONE    OF    GREAT 
CHANGES  OF  LEVEL. 

The  history  of  the  three  lake  basins  just  described 
might  have  been  introduced  under  this  head.  But  it 
will  be  in  point  to  adduce  facts  of  a  more  specific  char- 
acter. To  this  end  the  entire  history  of  the  Glacial 
epoch  is  in  place.  The  Glacial  epoch,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  was  coincident  with,  if  not  caused  by. 


Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge.  217 

an  extensive  continental  elevation  of  the  land  through- 
out the  glaciated  region.  Just  before  the  Glacial  epoch, 
as  already  said,  the  land  in  a  large  part  of  the  northern 
portion  of  North  America  stood  from  two  thousand  to 
three  thousand  feet  higher  than  its  present  level.  The 
evidence  of  this  is  abundant  on  every  hand.'^  Both  the 
eastern  and  the  western  shores  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  are  bordered  by  a  shelf  of  shallow  water, 
which,  at  distances  varying  from  a  few  miles  to  a 
hundred  miles  or  more,  suddenly  breaks  off  into  much 
greater  depths.  The  depth  of  the  water  on  this  shelf 
is  less  than  six  hundred  feet,  while,  beyond,  it  suddenly 
becomes  several  thousand  feet  deep.  Now,  there  is 
indubitable  evidence  that,  at  the  close  of  the  Tertiary 
period,  this  shelf  was  dry  land,  standing  at  such  an  ele- 
vation that  the  great  rivers  coming  down  from  the  in- 
terior cut  channels  through  it  hundreds  of  feet,  and  in 
some  cases  thousands  of  feet,  in  depth.  These  sub- 
merged drainage  channels  are  brought  to  our  knowl- 
edge by  the  sounding-line  of  the  Coast  Survey.  The 
Hudson  River  then  found  its  way  to  deep  water  south 
of  New  York  through  a  canon  more  than  one  thousand 
feet  deep,  extending  to  its  mouth  between  precipitous 
cliffs  nearly  one  hundred  miles  beyond  Sandy  Hook. 
The  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rivers  found  similar 
outlets  through  canons  extending  far  out  beyond  Dela- 


2i8  Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge. 

ware  and  Chesapeake  bays ;  while  the  St.  Lawrence 
extended  in  its  lower  course  several  hundred  miles 
through  a  deep-cut  channel  in  dry  land  where  now  we 
find  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Banks  of  New- 
foundland. Similar  channels  intersect  the  shelf  which 
borders  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  coast  of  California, 
Oregon,  Washington,  and  British  Columbia.  At  the 
same  time,  numerous  borings  for  oil  have  brought  to 
light  in  Central  New  York,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illi- 
nois, many  eroded  channels  in  the  rocks,  now  filled  with 
glacial  debris,  which  immediately  before  that  epoch 
conducted  away  the  drainage  of  the  interior  at  a  depth 
considerably  below  that  of  the  present  sea-level. 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  evidence  from  Northwestern 
Europe.  On  the  approach  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  the 
North  Sea  between  England  and  .Scandinavia,  which  is 
now  everywhere  very  shallow,  was  all  dry  land,  inter- 
sected only  by  the  channel  of  a  mighty  stream  which 
conducted  away  to  the  far  north  the  combined  floods 
of  the  Rhine,  the  Weser,  and  the  Elbe,  augmented  by 
all  the  water  which  issued  from  the  area  of  the  Baltic 
and  of  the  eastern  watershed  of  Great  Britain.  The 
fiords  of  Norway  then  increased  their  grandeur  by  the 
addition  of  many  hundred  feet  to  the  present  height  of 
their  cliffs  above  the  water.  To  the  south,  this  pre- 
glacial  continental  elevation  was  sufficient  to  join  Africa 


Scientific   Credibility    of   the  Deluge.  2ig 

to  Europe  across  the  middle  part  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  to  permit  the  elephant  and  the  hippopotamus  freely 
to  roam  over  the  plains  of  Sicily  and  Southern  Italy. 
Fresh  bones  of  these  animals  have  been  mined  for  ex- 
port by  the  ton  from  a  cave  near  Palermo. 


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Raised    Beach,    in    Sweden. 


220  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 


CHAPTER   VIIL 

THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH  AS  A  VERA  CAUSA. 

The  significance  of  the  Glacial  epoch  can  be  fully 
realized  only  by  those  who  have  made  a  special  study 
of  the  subject.  Still,  there  are  a  few  facts  which  can 
be  briefly  stated,  and  which  bear  with  great  force  upon 
the  question  of  the  recent  occurrence  of  a  period  of 
exceptional  instability  in  the  earth's  crust;  while  the 
proper  appreciation  of  these  facts  will  tend  to  remove 
prejudices  which  the  uniformitarian  theory  has  raised 
in  many  minds  against  crediting  any  such  story  as  that 
of  the  Flood.  The  main  facts  relating  to  the  Glacial 
epoch,  which  are  both  capable  of  abundant  proof  and 
pertinent  to  the  question  in  hand,  are  these: — 

At  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period,  snow  accumu- 
lated over  the  elevated  portions  of  the  northern  part  of 
North  America  and  the  northwestern  part  of  Europe 
faster  than  it  melted.  Under  the  pressure  of  its  own 
weight,  this  was  consolidated  into  ice,  which,  under  the 
laws  regulating  glacial  movement,  slowly  flowed  out- 
ward from  the  center  of  accumulation  in  lines  of  least 
resistance   until    it   was   melted   by   contact   with    the 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.  221 

warmer  atmosphere  in  the  south.  The  area  which  was 
eventually  covered  by  this  glacial  mass  was  about  six 
million  square  miles,  four  million  being  in  America, 
and  two  million  in  Europe.  Its  depth  is  known  to 
have  been  one  mile  in  New  England,  from  the  fact  that 
it  covered  the  top  of  Mount  Washington,  leaving  for- 
eign boidders  upon  its  very  summit.  It  is  altogether 
probable  that  its  average  depth  was  fully  as  great  as 
this.  In  Greenland  at  the  present  time  the  thickness 
of  the  ice-covering  over  the  center  of  the  area  is  prob- 
ably much  more  than  this. 

On  this  estimate,  however,  the  mass  of  ice  accumu- 
lated over  the  northern  hemisphere  at  the  climax  of  the 
Glacial  epoch  would  be  six  million  cubic  miles,  thus 
adding  the  pressure  of  this  immense  weight  over  the 
area  of  accumulation  to  disturb  the  balance  of  forces 
which  preserve  the  normal  relations  between  the  con- 
tinents and  the  ocean.  Furthermore,  not  only  was  the 
weight  of  this  mass  added  to  the  northern  part  of  the 
continents,  but,  to  furnish  the  accumulating  snow  over 
this  region,  an  equal  amount  of  water  was  abstracted 
from  the  ocean.  This  would  be  sufficient  to  lower  the 
level  of  the  ocean  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  the  world 
over,  thus  relieving  the  ocean  beds  of  that  enormous 
weight. 

It  will  help  to  an  appreciation  of  the  tremendous  sig- 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.  223 

nificance  of  this  temporary  transfer  of  weight  from  the 
ocean  beds  to  the  continents  to  note  that  a  mass  of  ice 
one  mile  thick  would  produce  a  pressure  at  the  bottom 
of  one  hundred  and  twent3'-five  atmospheres,  equal  to 
two  thousand  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  or  four  billion 
tons  to  the  square  mile.  The  total  amount  of  pressure 
thus  transferred  during  the  Glacial  epoch  from  the 
ocean  beds  to  the  northern  part  of  America  and  Europe 
would  be  twenty- four  thousand  million  million  (24,- 
000,000,000,000,000)  tons. 

If,  as  is  by  no  means  improbable,  the  ice  was  two 
miles  thick  (  a  little  more  than  that  of  the  Greenland 
ice-cap),  the  weight  would  be  twice  this  enormous 
»  amount. 

Still  better  to  appreciate  these  figures,  one  needs  to 
compare  them  with  those  expressing  the  bulk  and 
weight  of  the  continents.  North  America  has  an  area 
of  7,600,000  square  miles,  with  an  average  elevjition 
above  the  sea  of  2,132  feet,  which  would  make  about 
3,000,000  cubic  miles,  or,  at  our  lowest  calculation, 
one-half  the  amount  of  ice  piled  up  on  the  northern 
part  of  the  northern  hemisphere ;  while,  if  the  ice  were 
two  miles  deep,  the  land  mass  of  North  America  is 
only  one-quarter  that  of  the  glacial  ice.  Reckoning  the 
specific  gravity  of  rock  to  be  three  times  that  of  ice,  the 
weight  of  the  entire  continent  of  North  America  would 


224  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

be,  on  one  calculation,  only  one-third  more  than  that  of 
the  ice  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  and,  on  the  other,  one- 
third  less.  The  total  land  area  of  the  world  is  55,- 
000,000  square  miles,  with  an  average  elevation  of 
2,411  feet  above  sea-level.  Even  this  is  (on  the  lowest 
calculation),  in  bulk,  onl)'  four  times,  and  on  the  large 
estimate  only  twice,  that  of  the  glacial  ice.^ 

In  addition  to  this,  President  Robert  Simpson  Wood- 
ward, of  the  Carnegie  Institution,  calculates  that  the 
attraction  of  the  ice  piled  up  during  the  Glacial  epoch 
about  the  north  pole  would  be  sufficient  to  raise  the 
water  in  that  region  several  hundred  feet,  and  to  lower 
the  ocean-level  over  the  main  ocean  beds  about  fifty 
feet.  This,  therefore,  would  have  to  be  added  to  the  « 
direct  disturbing  force  of  the  ice  itself. 

Now,  if  the  earth  be  indeed  in  any  degree  plastic,  it 
is  easy  to  believe  that  the  transfer  of  this  enormous 
weight  of  ice  from  one  portion  of  the  surface  to  another 
would  produce  marked  temporary  changes  in  land-level. 
The  piling-up  of  such  a  mass  of  ice  over  the  glaciated 
area  is  a  cause  tending  to  depress  the  continents,  whose 
efi'ects  geologists  are  compelled  to  reckon  with.  At 
the  same  time  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  tendency  of 
this  increase  of  pressure  over  the  glaciated  area  to 
depress  the  continents  is  reenforced  by  the  relief  of 
pressure  in  other  portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  caused 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.  225 

by  the  abstraction  of  water  from  the  ocean.  Interest 
in  the  problem  is  further  increased  by  the  subsequent 
melting  of  this  mass  of  ice,  and  the  return  of  the  water 
to  the  ocean  beds,  thus  relieving  the  glaciated  area  of 
the  pressure,  and  restoring  it  again  to  its  normal  condi- 
tion. If  any  one  can  in  thought  pass  lightly  over  these 
known  great  changes  which  have  recently  taken  place 
in  the  distribution  of  the  forces  of  gravity  over  the 
earth's  surface,  it  is  because  he  has  not  paused  long 
enough  upon  them  to  comprehend  their  significance. 

That  there  is  a  considerable  degree  of  plasticity  to 
the  earth  is  proved  by  a  wide  range  of  geological  facts. 
The  very  separation  of  the  earth's  surface  into  land  and 
water,  which  indicates  that  the  continental  areas  are 
elevated  portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  the  ocean 
beds  depressed  areas,  proves  it.  Fossil  sea-shells  upon 
the  summits  of  our  highest  mountains  give  clearest 
evidence  that  extensive  areas  which  were  formerly 
buried  beneath  the  ocean  have  since  been  raised  to  great 
elevations.  Indeed,  the  language  which  speaks  of  "  the 
earth's  crust  "  is  as  scientific  as  it  is  popular.  As  com- 
pared with  the  mass  of  the  earth,  the  cooled-off  outside 
crust  is  but  a  shell  sensitively  subject  to  the  influence  of 
the  shifting  of  any  load  from  one  point  to  the  other, 
such  as  is  brought  to  light  in  the  accumulation  of  gla- 
cial ice  and  its  subsequent  melting. 


226  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

That  the  earth's  interior  forty  or  fifty  miles  below 
the  surface  is  hot  enough  to  melt  all  known  minerals 
is  beyond  reasonable  controversy.-  So  far  as  man  has 
penetrated  the  surface  in  wells  and  mines,  the  tempera- 
ture is  found  to  increase  one  degree  for  every  fifty  or 
sixty  feet,  or  one  hundred  degrees  for  every  mile,  which 
would  give  a  heat  of  five  thousand  degrees  fifty  miles 
below  the  surface.  That  there  is  some  such  reser- 
voir of  heat  within  a  moderate  distance  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  is  evident  enough  from  the  existence 
of  volcanoes,  whose  activity  we  are  learning  from  sad 
experience  has  been  by  no  means  confined  to  past  ages. 

To  just  what  extent,  however,  the  center  of  the 
earth  is  in  a  fluid  condition  is  not  determined  solely  by 
its  heat.  For,  upon  approaching  the  center  of  the  earth, 
the  pressure  of  gravitation  so  increases  that  it  is  sup- 
posed to  compress  the  hottest  substances  into  a  solid. 
But,  as  all  concede,  there  must  be,  about  fifty  miles 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  a  ring  of  material,  of 
indefinite  thickness,  which  is  in  a  sufficiently  semiplastic 
condition  to  allow  it  to  respond  to  changes  in  the 
amount  of  superincumbent  pressure.  Upon  this  molten 
mass  the  crust  of  the  earth  reposes  in  a  state  of  equilib- 
rium which  is  constantly  liable  to  disturbance.  The 
extent  of  the  disturbances  to  which  it  is  liable  is  meas- 
ured by  the  facts  already  adduced  in  the  elevation  of 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.         227 

the  continents  and  the  depression  of  the  ocean  beds,  and 
in  the  changes  'which  have  repeatedly  taken  place  in 
these  elevations  as  show^n  in  geological  history. 

Indeed,  it  would  seem  that  the  height  of  the  moun- 
tains is  limited  by  the  forces  which  maintain  the  equi- 
librium of  the  earth's  surface.  Mountains  could  not  be 
maintained  above  a  certain  height  without  overloading 
"  the  low  arch  of  the  earth's  crust  " ;  so  that  it  would 
-settle  down  into  the  semiplastic  mass  beneath.  In  short, 
the  crust  of  the  earth  is  like  a  pontoon  bridge :  the  more 
you  pile  on  at  one  end,  the  higher  it  will  rise  at  the 
other. 

This  brings  us  to  the  main  proposition  had  in  view 
in  this  part  of  our  discussion.  The  equilibrium  of  the 
earth's  surface  is  so  delicately  balanced  that  it  is  very 
easy  to  believe  that  the  disturbances  of  the  Glacial  epoch 
produced  such  an  abnormal  temporary  instability  of 
conditions  that  the  story  of  the  Flood,  when  reasonably 
interpreted,  is  not  encompassed  with  any  more  a  priori 
geological  improbabilities  than  is  any  of  the  other  great 
facts  of  geological  history. 

In  my  recent  excursion  across  the  Asiatic  continent 
I  set  out  with  the  expectation  of  finding  evidence  in 
Mongolia,  Manchuria,  Siberia,  and  along  the  base  of 
the  Tian  Shan  Mountains  that  the  Glacial  epoch  was 
marked  by  accumulations  of  ice  on  the  Asiatic  conti- 


228         The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

nent  commensurate  with  those  which  occurred  in  North 
America  and  Northwestern  Europe.  But  in  this  I  was 
disappointed.  Whatever  accumulations  of  ice  have 
taken  place  in  that  region  are  very  small  in  comparison 
with  those  which  took  place  in  America  and  Europe. 
In  consequence  of  this,  it  at  first  seemed  difficult  to  con- 
nect with  the  Glacial  epoch  the  recent  depression  of 
the  Asiatic  continent  implied  in  the  story  of  the  Flood, 
and  confirmed  by  the  abundant  evidence  to  be  presented 
in  the  next  chapter. 

But,  upon  reflection,  it  will  appear  that  a  temporary 
depression  of  the  Asiatic  continent  would  not  be  de- 
pendent upon  the  overloading  of  its  surface  by  an  accu- 
mulation of  glacial  ice.  The  simple  fact  that  the  ocean 
beds  were  relieved  of  pressure  to  the  extent  to  which 
we  have  indicated,  by  the  abstraction  of  three  hundred 
feet  of  water  from  the  whole  surface  of  the  ocean, 
would,  very  likely,  so  disturb  the  equilibrium,  that,  in 
the  readjustment  of  forces,  the  Asiatic  continent  w^ould 
sink  of  itself,  and  rise  again  when  the  glacial  ice  was 
melted  of¥,  allowing  the  w^ater  to  return  to  its  former 
position. 

It  is  by  no  means  impossible,  however,  that  a  see-saw 
motion  between  the  continents  would  be  the  result  of 
the  alternate  accumulation  and  disappearance  of  ice 
over   Europe   and   America.      When    they   were   most 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.         229 

deeply  covered  with  ice,  they  would  be  abnormally  de- 
pressed ;  while,  upon  the  melting  of  the  ice  and  the 
consequent  relief  of  pressure  over  the  glaciated  area, 
the  upward  movement  would  be  abnormal,  inviting 
such  a  flovv  of  the  semiplastic  magma  beneath,  that  the 
Asiatic  continent  would  for  a  time  be  correspondingly 
depressed. 

RECENCY   OF   THE    GLACIAL    EPOCH. 

Evidence  accumulates  to  show  that  the  Glacial  epoch, 
one  of  the  most  momentous  in  the  world's  history,  is  a 
recent  event,  even  as  time  is  reckoned  by  ordinary 
standards.  For  a  full  statement  of  the  evidence,  the 
reader  must  be  referred  to  innumerable  recent  reports 
of  individual  observers ;  but,  for  practical  purposes,  a 
sufficiently  full  statement  of  the  fact  is  given  in  my  vol- 
ume "  The  Ice  Age  in  North  America."  Briefly  sum- 
marized, the  facts  are  as  follows: — 

I.  Nearly  all  the  waterfalls  in  the  glaciated  region 
have  come  into  existence,  and  so  begun  their  work  of 
erosion,  since  the  melting-off  of  the  glacial  ice,  and 
everywhere  the  post-glacial  gorges  worn  by  the  reces- 
sion of  the  waterfalls  are  such  as  could  be  produced  in 
a  few  thousand  years  by  the  forces  now  in  operation. 

For  example,  the  cataract  of  Niagara  began  its  work 
when  the  glacial  ice  had  melted  off  from  Central  New 


230  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

York  sufficiently  to  allow  the  drainage  of  the  Great 
Lakes  to  pass  through  the  Mohawk  into  the  Hudson. 
The  length  of  the  gorge  formed  by  the  recession  of  the 
falls  Is  only  seven  miles,  or,  in  round  numbers,  thirty- 
five  thousand  feet.  The  geological  conditions  through- 
out this  district  are  nearly  uniform.  Recent  surveys  of 
the  falls,  compared  w^ith  those  made  fifty  years  ago, 
show  that  the  recession  is  at  the  rate  of  nearly  five  feet 
per  annum,  which  would  place  the  beginning  of  the 
falls  at  about  5000  B.c.^  making  it  contemporaneous 
with  a  high  civilization  in  Egypt  and  Babylonia.  There 
is  no  way  of  lengthening  this  chronology  of  the  great 
cataract,  except  by  introducing  theories  concerning  the 
changes  in  the  direction  of  the  drainage  of  the  Great 
Lakes  which  would  diminish  the  water-supply,  and  so 
the  rate  of  erosion.  But  it  can  be  easily  shown  that 
this  need  not  lengthen  the  time  more  than  two  thou- 
sand or  three  thousand  years. 

Evidence  from  the  recession  of  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony, at  Minneapolis,  points  to  approximately  the  same 
date.  Upon  comparing  the  situation  of  these  falls,  as 
shown  by  the  description  and  map  of  the  Catholic  mis- 
sionary Hennepin,  their  discoverer,  in  1680,  with  the 
present  position  of  the  falls,  it  appears  that  they  too 
have  been  receding  at  the  rate  of  five  feet  per  year; 
while  the  post-glacial  gorge,  extending  from  Fort  Snell- 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.         231 

ing  up,  is  of  the  same  length  with  that  of  the  Niagara 
gorge,  namely,  seven  miles. 

Approximately  similar  results  are  obtained  by  the 
study  of  numerous  smaller  waterfalls,  which  can  be 
found  all  over  the  glaciated  region, 

2.     The    existence    of    the    innumerable    lakes    and 
ponds  which  dot  the  glaciated  regions  both  of  Europe 
and  America  points  to  a  recent  origin  of  those  bodies  of 
water;  while  in  almost  all  cases  their  formation  can  be 
traced  to  the  influence  of  the  Glacial  epoch.    With  few 
exceptions,  the  greater  lakes  are  formed  by  the  damming- 
up  with  glacial  debris  of  preglacial  watercourses,  so  as 
to  divert  the  drainage  to  other  channels.     But,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  the  erosion  which  will  eventually 
drain   the  lakes  has  proceeded  only  a  short  distance, 
while    the   majority   of    the   smaller   lakes   which    oc- 
cur   in     Northern     Germany    and     Russia,     Finland, 
Scandinavia,  Scotland,  Ireland,  New  England,  North- 
ern   New   York,    Michigan,    Wisconsin,    and    Minne- 
sota,   and    all    of    Canada,    are    what    are    known    as 
"  kettle-holes,"   being  merely  hollows  where  lingering 
masses  of  ice  of  the  Glacial  epoch  were  deeply  cov- 
ered with  glacial  debris.     These,  upon  finally  melting, 
have  left  depressions,  which,  in  most  cases,  have  sub- 
sequently been  filled  with  water,  but  frequently,  where 
the  soil  is  porous,  are  simply  dry  hollows.     Now  it  is 


232  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

easy  to  see  that  the  wash  from  the  hills  surrounding 
these  lakes,  and  the  accumulation  of  peat  around  their 
edges,  are  constantly  at  work  to  fill  them  up  and  oblit- 
erate them.  In  many  cases  the  work  to  be  done  has 
been  so  slight,  and  the  forces  in  operation  have  been  so 
rapid,  that  they  have  been  obliterated,  and  their  pres- 
ence is  simply  marked  by  peat-bogs.  Another  force 
working  to  destroy  these  glacial  lakelets  is  the  erosion 
of  the  water  passing  through  their  outlets.  This  con- 
stantly tends  to  lower  the  outlets  and  drain  the  basins. 
A  broad  study  of  these  facts  leaves  an  irresistible 
impression  upon  every  one  who  gives  attention  to  them, 
that  the  age  of  these  lakelets  is  brief.  Their  age  is 
certainly  to  be  reckoned  in  thousands  of  years,  rather 
than  in  tens  of  thousands. 

3.  Another  method  of  obtaining  an  approximate 
estimate  of  the  date  of  the  close  of  the  Glacial  epoch 
is  open  to  the  inspection  of  almost  every  one,  in  the 
amount  of  post-glacial  enlargement  of  the  valleys  of 
the  streams,  both  great  and  small,  which  carry  away 
the  drilinage  of  the  glaciated  region.  As  good  an  illus- 
tration as  can  be  found  (but  it  is  only  one  of  ten 
thousand)  exists  in  Plum  Creek,  a  small  stream  passing 
through  the  village  of  Oberlin,  Ohio.  The  valley  is 
twelve  miles  long,  and  it  is  wholly  eroded  in  the  uni- 
form glacial  deposit,  known  as  "  ground  moraine  "  or 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.  233 

"  boulder-clay,"  which  covers  the  region.  In  the  lower 
part  of  this  vallej^  or  trough,  a  section  a  mile  long  has 
been  carefully  measured  by  my  college  classes,  revealing 
the  fact  that  the  total  amount  of  erosion  accomplished 
by  the  stream  since  it  began  to  flow  over  the  surface  at 
the  close  of  the  Glacial  epoch  has  been  to  wear  a  chan- 
nel averaging  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  width  and 
twenty  feet  in  depth.  It  is  easily  seen  that,  as  the 
stream  in  its  meanderings  swings  from  side  to  side  of 
this  channel,  it  is  constantly  increasing  its  width,  and, 
as  the  gradient  is  twelve  feet  to  the  mile,  also  is  slowly 
adding  to  its  depth.  By  calculations  drawn  from  the 
rate  at  which  this  small  stream  is  enlarging  a  new  chan- 
nel, which  was  made  for  it  a  few  years  ago  in  the 
construction  of  the  village  waterworks,  it  is  clearly  evi- 
dent that  ten  thousand  or  twelve  thousand  years  is  a 
maximum  limit  of  time  necessary  for  the  total  amount 
of  erosion  which  has  taken  place. 

4.  In  many  places  in  limestone  regions,  large  for- 
eign boulders  were  left,  when  the  ice  melted,  resting 
upon  a  surface  polished  by  the  ice  which  had  previ- 
ously passed  over  it.  The  action  of  subaerial  forces  in 
slowly  dissolving  limestone  (a  process  with  which  we 
are  too  familiar  in  the  decay  of  marble  monuments  in 
our  humid  climate)  has  lowered  the  general  level  of 
the  limestone  surface,   except  where  it  was  protected 


234         ^^'^  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

underneath  the  boulders  mentioned,  so  that  these  are 
found  to  stand  on  miniature  pedestals.  But  in  all  cases 
these  pedestals,  never  more  than  a  few  inches  in  height, 
are  so  low  that,  upon  the  most  conservative  estimate, 
they  indicate  only  a  few  thousand  years  during  which 
the  present  conditions  can  have  been  in  existence. 

To  such  an  extent  has  the  evidence  from  all  these 
sources  accumulated  in  the  past  few  years,  that  they 
can  no  longer  be  ignored.  Professor  Rollin  D.  Salis- 
bury, of  Chicago  University,  one  of  the  most  compe- 
tent and  judicious  authorities  upon  the  subject,  thus 
writes  in  his  recent  (1902)  final  report  upon  the  gla- 
cial geology  of  New  Jersey: — 

"  The  date  and  duration  of  the  Glacial  epoch  are 
matters  of  the  greatest  interest,  but  neither  has  been 
determined  with  numerical  exactness.  Many  lines  of 
calculation,  all  of  them  confessedly  more  or  less  uncer- 
tain, point  to  the  retreat  of  the  last  ice-sheet  from  the 
northern  part  of  the  United  States  six  thousand  years 
or  ten  thousand  years  ago.  While  these  figures  are  to 
be  looked  upon  as  estimates  only,  there  are  so  many 
lines  of  evidence  pointing  in  the  same  direction  that 
the  recency  (geologically  speaking)  of  the  last  glacia- 
tion  must  be  looked  on  as  established.  The  best  date 
for  the  calculations  which  have  led  to  the  above  results 
are  furnished  by  Niagara  Falls  and  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  at  Minneapolis.     In  each  case,  the  distance 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.  235 

the  falls  has  receded  since  the  ice  disappeared,  and  the 
present  r^te  of  recession  are  known  with  some  degree 
of  approximation  to  the  truth.  Assuming  the  rate  of 
recession  to  have  been  uniform,  the  above  results  as  to 
duration  of  post-glacial  times  for  these  localities  are 
obtained. 

"A  strong  argument  for  the  recency  of  the  last  gla- 
ciation  is  the  slight  modification  which  the  surface  of 
the  drift  has  undergone.  This  sort  of  argument  does 
not  easily  lend  itself  to  numerical  results.  A  summary 
of  the  various  estimates  of  the  duration  of  post-glacial 
time  is  given  by  Wright  in  his  Great  Ice  Age  [Ice 
Age  of  North  America]"  (p.  194). 

Thus,  by  attention  to  the  general  conditions  accom- 
panying the  Glacial  epoch,  we  are  led  to  the  recognition 
of  the  existence  of  a  unique  period  of  instability  in  the 
relations  of  land  and  water  levels  w^hich  passed  away 
only  a  few  thousand  years  ago.  For  a  brief  geological 
period  the  ocean  beds  were  relieved  of  an  immense  mass 
of  water,  which  was  piled  up  in  the  shape  of  ice  upon 
the  northern  continents.  After  a  time,  which  was  very 
brief  as  geologists  reckon  it,  this  ice  melted  off,  relieving 
the  glacial  area  from  its  pressure,  and  restoring  it  again 
to  its  original  place  in  the  ocean.  During  this  process 
a  general  subsidence  of  the  continental  masses  is  not 
only  far  from  improbable,  but  actually  to  be  expected. 


236  The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa. 

But  the  forces  in  operation  are  too  vast  and  complicated 
to  permit  us  to  work  out  their  effects  in  detail.  Usually, 
however,  in  such  cases  the  results  culminated  towards 
the  climax  of  the  period,  in  an  epoch  of  rapidly  chang- 
ing effects. 

■ 

The  geologist,  therefore,  need  not  be  disturbed  by 
such  a  consummation  of  events  as  is  described  in  the 
biblical  story  of  the  Flood,  but  he  well  may  be  sur- 
prised at  the  sobriety  of  the  account,  at  the  prominence 
given  to  "  the  breaking-up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,"  and  at  the  assurance  that  the  earth  is  no  more  to 
be  destroyed  by  a  flood  ;  for  these  characteristics  of  the 
biblical  story  are  not  the  natural  products  of  the  human 
imagination,  but  show  that  the  narrator  was  restrained, 
either  by  personal  knowledge  of  the  facts  or  by  the 
guidance  of  divine  inspiration.  The  glacial  geologist 
especially  may  well  be  impressed  by  the,  announcement 
that  the  danger  of  so  universal  a  deluge  had  passed 
away,  since  he  also  now  discerns  a  reason  for  the  pres- 
ent stability  of  the  earth's  crust  in  the  passing-away  of 
the  temporary  disturbing  conditions  connected  with  the 
Glacial  epoch.  Indeed,  geologists  agree  that  the  pres- 
ent stability  of  the  earth's  crust  is  exceptional.''^ 

In  the  following  chapter  we  will  present  a  remark- 
able series  of  facts,  manv  of  which  have  recentlv  come 


The  Glacial  Epoch  as  a  Vera  Causa.         237 

to  notice,  going  to  show  that  the  changes  of  land-level 
which  are  here  seen  to  have  been  probable,  have  actually 
occurred  since  man  came  into  existence.  While,  as  al- 
ready remarked,  this  cannot  be  expected  to  prove  the 
truth  of  the  biblical  narrative  in  detail,  it  may  be  ex- 
pected to  show  that  there  is  no  valid  scientific  reason 
for  rejecting  the  historical  account  of  the  Flood.  In 
other  words,  the  occurrence  of  the  Flood  does  not 
make  extravagant  demands  upon  our  scientific  credulity. 


238  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

EVIDENCES  OF  A  DELUGE  IN  EUROPE. 

According  to  the  account  of  the  Flood  in  Genesis, 
while  it  was  so  extensive  as  to  need  special  arrangements 
to  preserve  the  animals  associated  with  man,  the  catas- 
trophe was,  as  geologists  reckon  time,  of  short  dura- 
tion. Still,  if  we  can  consider  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  of  warning  which  was  given  to  Noah  as 
covering  a  period  of  subsidence,  culminating  in  the 
final  catastrophe  described  by  the  sacred  writer  as  of 
a  year's  duration,  we  should  have  a  progress,  in  the 
main,  so  slow  and  gradual  that  it  could  scarcely  be  ob- 
served from,  year  to  year,  though  very  likely  producing 
the  most  wide-spread  destruction  of  animal  species 
which  so  evidently  took  place  about  the  close  of  the 
Glacial  epoch ;  while  the  more  rapid  rise  of  the  land, 
intimated  in  the  biblical  story  by  the  short  duration  of 
the  Flood,  would  account,  as  we  shall  see,  for  a  large 
class  of  phenomena,  which  we  are  about  to  describe. 

But  the  influence  of  such  a  brief  subsidence  must  be 
looked  for,  not  in  the  general  phenomena  connected 
with  the  fossils  in  the  ordinary  rocks  or  with  the  dislo- 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  239 

cation  of  mountain  strata,  but  in  those  superficial  de- 
posits of  gravel,  sand,  loess,  and  claj^  which  everywhere 
girdle  the  shores,  border  the  valleys,  and  mantle  the 
upland  plains  of  the  continents.  To  discriminate  in 
these  superficial  deposits  between  those  which  are  due 
to  the  slow  action  of  existing  agencies  and  those  which 
are  the  result  of  a  wide-spread  movement  is  by  no 
means  always  an  easy  matter;  yet  much  has  been  done 
in  this  direction  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  with 
the  remarkable  reSult,  that,  whereas  existing  local 
causes  are  seen  to  be  sufficient  to  account  for  the  larger 
part  of  the  erosion  of  gorges  and  river  valleys  and  the 
deposition  of  sediment  of  various  degrees  of  coarseness 
over  broad  plains,  a  large  residuum  of  phenomena  de- 
mands the  presence  of  causes  which  have  now  either 
altogether  ceased  their  activity,  or  have  so  diminished 
their  force  as  to  be  inadequate  for  the  explanation  of 
the  facts. 

I  have  perhaps  been  as  active  as  any  one  in  efforts 
to  discriminate,  in  the  superficial  deposits  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  North  America  and  in  Northwestern 
Europe,  between  those  which  are  the  direct  result  of 
the  great  ice  invasion  of  the  Glacial  epoch,^  and  those 
which  are  the  effects  of  local  and  more  limited  causes, 
and  have,  therefore,  been  strongly  predisposed  to  at- 
tribute as  much  as  possible  to  direct  glacial  agency,  es- 


240  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

pecially  as  it  so  easily  accounts  for  the  larger  part  of 
the  gravel  deposits  over  these  areas  which  were  earlier 
attributed  to  a  submergence  of  the  continent  or  to  the 
action  of  floating  ice.  But  longer  and  wider  study 
of  the  facts  of  surface  geology  reveals  more  and  more 
clearly  a  considerable  residuum  of  phenomena  which 
indicate  a  brief  post-glacial  submergence,  since  man's 
advent,  of  a  large  part  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

EVIDENCE    FROM    EUROPE. 

The  residual  facts  pointing  to  this  conclusion  in 
England  and  the  continent  of  Europe  have  been  very 
fully  stated  by  the  late  Professor  Joseph  Prestwich,  one 
of  the  most  eminent,  cautious,  and  unerring  of  recent 
geological  observers.-  The  conclusions  of  Professor 
Prestwich  we  have  already  given  with  considerable  de- 
tail in  "  Scientific  Aspects  of  Christian  Evidences."  ^ 
But,  for  our  present  purpose,  it  will  be  in  place  to  pre- 
sent a  much  ampler  statement  of  the  case.  Fully  to 
appreciate  the  force  of  the  facts,  however,  one  needs  to 
go  carefully  through  Professor  Prestwich's  elaborate 
monographs  referred  to,  or,  better  still,  follow  him,  as 
I  have  done  to  a  considerable  extent,  over  the  fields 
described. 

The  evidence  is  classed  under  three  heads;  namely, 
the  Rubble  Drift,  or  "  Head,"  of  Southern  England 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  241 

and  Northern  France;  the  Ossiferous  Breccias  of 
England  and  the  Continent;  and  the  High-level  Loess 
of  France  and  Central  Europe. 

I.  The  Rubble  Drift,  or  Head. — At  numerous^ 
places  over  the  southern  counties  of  England  and  on 
the  south  side  of  Dover  Strait  at  Sangatte,  near  Calais, 
in  France,  there  are  deposits  of  angular  gravel  bearing 
no  relation  to  the  present  drainage  systems  of  the  coun- 
try, and  containing  palaeolithic  implements  and  the 
bones  of  extinct  animals  associated  with  prehistoric 
man.  This  drift  is  found  as  far  inland  as  the  vicinity 
of  Oxford,  and  at  an  elevation  on  the  Cotteswold  Hills 
of  about  nine  hundred  feet. 

A  typical  illustration  of  this  deposit  is  to  be  found 
at  East  Brighton,  the  great  watering-place  of  Southern 
England,  where  it  can  be  still  studied  to  an  excellent 
advantage.  The  deposit  is  here  eighty  feet  thick,  and 
the  surface  forms  a  continuous  slope  with  the  chalk 
cliffs,  rising  into  the  interior.  Formerly  the  deposit 
extended  a  considerable  distance  into  the  sea,  but  the 
larger  part  of  it  has  been  eroded  by  the  waves.  The 
accompanying  illustrations  will  aid  in  conveying  the 
important  facts.  At  the  base  of  the  rubble  drift  there 
is  an  old  sea-beach,  now  elevated  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  above  the  reach  of  tide.     This  can  be  seen  along 


242 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


A  General  View  of  the  Rubble  Drift  at  East  Brighton, 

England. 


The  view  was  taken  looking  eastward.  The  total  elevation 
is  80  feet.  The  buried  raised  beach  is  dimly  seen  a  few  feet 
above  the  rock.  The  surface  slopes  gradually  to  the  highland 
back  from  the  shore.  For  a  clearer  view  of  the  beach,  see 
page  244. 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  243 

the  coast  for  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  more,  resting  upon 
a  rocky  foundation. 

The  superincumbent  mass  of  the  deposit  must  have 
accumulated  in  very  peculiar  circumstances.  It  has  no 
regular  stratification.  An  unstratified  mass  of  sharp 
angular  flints  and  chalk  fragments  constitutes  the  sur- 
face. Belou^  this  there  is  a  series  of  irregular  lenticular 
masses,  of  the  same  character,  containing  fragments  of 
the  Tertiary  rock  w^hich  surmounts  the  hills  in  the  near 
vicinity.  Projecting  from  the  face  of  the  cliff  of  this 
material  as  it  is  exposed  are  large  blocks  of  this  Ter- 
tiary sandstone,  either  angular  or  with  angles  but 
slightly  w^orn.  One  of  these  measured  by  Professor 
Prestwich  was  8x2x2  feet.  The  deposit  shows  clear 
marks  in  some  places  of  rapid  and  tumultuous  accumu- 
lation, while  in  others  there  is  seen  the  fine  lamination 
produced  by  tranquil  water  action  and  deposition.  "  But 
there  is  an  entire  absence  of  any  of  the  effects  produced 
by  continuously  running  water,  nor  is  the  angle  of 
bedding  of  the  mass  such  as  would  be  formed  under 
subaerial  conditions  by  rubble  falling  over  the  top  of 
the  cliff,  which  would  lie  at  a  much  greater  and  more 
uniform  angle."  In  this  deposit  are  found  numerous 
mammalian  remains  characteristic  of  post-Tertiary 
times.  Among  them  were  those  of  species  of  elephant, 
rhinoceros,  reindeer,  hippopotamus,  horse,  hog,  and  ox. 


244  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


■"%^--?.  "*4^ 


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Near  View  of  the  Raised  Beach  at  East  Brighton. 

This  shows  the  base  of  the  rubble  drift,  with  a  large  un- 
worn sandstone  block  in  the  drift.  Elephant  bones  were  found 
here  near  the  base  of  the  drift.  For  the  general  situation,  see 
illustrations  on  pages  242  and  247. 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  245 

The  elephants'  teeth  and  the  bones  in  general  are  in 
such  a  perfect  state  as  to  show  that  they  could  not 
have  been  transported  for  a  long  distance.  They 
showed  signs  of  fracture,  but  not  of  wear. 

The  rubble  drift  at  Brighton  is  only  one  instance  out 
of  more  than  twenty  in  Southern  England  carefully 
described  by  Professor  Prestwich.  Prominent  among 
the  places  are  Dover  and  Folkstone,  Eastbourne,  Bir- 
ling  Gap,  New  Haven,  Port  Slade  Station,  the  Sussex 
Coast  Plain,  Hayling  Island,  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Isle  of 
Purbeck,  the  Isle  of  Portland,  the  South  Devon  and 
Cornish  coasts,  the  north  coast  of  Cornwall  and  Devon, 
the  Somersetshire  coast,  the  lower  Severn,  Swansea, 
Gower,  and  Pembrokeshire. 

An  important  observation  relates  to  the  blown  sand, 
or  old  dunes,  which  in  various  places  occur  between  the 
rubble  drift  and  the  raised  beach,  especially  on  the 
north  coast  of  Cornwall  and  Devon.  These  indicate 
that,  after  the  old  beach  had  been  elevated,  there  was 
a  considerable  pause  in  the  earth  movements,  sufliicient 
to  allow  the  accumulation  of  extensive  dunes.  Then 
followed  the  depression  during  w^hich  the  rubble  drift 
accumulated  upon  the  top  of  the  dunes.  The  existence 
of  these  dunes  between  the  raised  beach  and  the  rubble 
drift  indicates  that  the  subsidence  of  the  land  preceding 
the  accumulation  of  the  rubble  drift  was  rapid.   Other- 


246  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

wise  the  waves  of  the  ocean  would  have  leveled  and 
obliterated  the  dunes. 

The  rubble  drift  differs  in  important  respects  from 
all  ordinary  gravel,  such  as  is  found  along  river  courses 
or  on  the  beaches  of  oceans  and  lakes,  in 

( 1 )  The  angularity  and  sharpness  of  the  harder 
constituent  debris.  Evidently  the  material  has  been 
moved  but  a  short  distance ;  since  both  the  fragments 
of  stone  and  the  fractured  bones  retain  their  sharp 
angles. 

(2)  A  second  peculiar  characteristic  is  that  the 
material  is  all  of  local  origin,  and  is  derived  from  the 
higher  grounds  of  the  immediate  vicinity.  A  signifi- 
cant fact,  also,  in  connection  with  this,  is  that  the  drift 
is  arranged  around  the  base  of  the  higher  land,  as  if 
it  had  been  swept  in  all  directions  from  it,  yet  so  far 
from  the  base  that  the  agency  of  distribution  could  not 
have  been  running  water.  In  some  cases,  as  on  the 
South  Downs,  at  Port  Slade,  west  of  Brighton,  this 
extends  from  two  to  five  miles  over  a  comparatively 
level  surface.  The  material,  however,  is  not  collected 
in  deltas,  as  would  be  the  case  if  it  were  transported  by 
small  streams,  but  is  pretty  equally  distributed  around 
the  base;  nor  does  it  have  any  regular  stratification,  as 
would  be  the  case  if  it  had  been  transported  by  ordi- 
narv  water  action. 


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248  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

(3)  There  is  a  total  absence  in  these  deposits  of 
marine  and  fluviatile  shells.  This  has  ordinarily  been 
taken  as  conclusive  evidence  against  the  origin  of  these 
deposits  during  a  period  of  submergence.  In  the  opin- 
ion of  Professor  Prestwich,  however,  it  is  simply  evi- 
dence of  the  brevity  of  the  submergence,  the  time  of  its 
continuance  having  been  too  short  to  permit  the  estab- 
lishment of  colonies  of  shell-fish  of  any  description. 

Of  all  the  unsatisfactory  theories  proposed  to  ac- 
count for  these  facts,  that  involving  the  agency  of  ice 
and  snow  sliding  down  the  hill  slopes,  aided  by  the 
running  off  of  water  from  the  melting  of  the  ice  and 
snow,  is  the  most  plausible.  But  insuperable  objections 
to  this  theory  are  forcibly  urged  by  Professor  Prestwich 
as  follows: — 

"  By  this  means  debris  might  be  propelled  over  the 
edge  of  the  cliff  along  its  whole  face,  without  wearing 
very  definite  channels,  but  in  times  of  thaw  the  escape 
of  the  surface-waters  must  have  ended  in  producing 
results  analogous  to  those  caused  by  heavy  rainfalls.  By 
ice  and  snow  the  rubble  might  also  have  been  driven 
over  smaller  gradients  and  to  a  greater  distance  beyond 
the  cliff,  but  I  doubt  whether  it  could,  as  at  Godrevy, 
have  been  propelled  for  a  distance  of  above  two  hun- 
dred feet  from  the  face  of  a  cliff;  for  the  cliff  is  not 
more  thart  forty  feet  high,  and  the  hill  at  the  back  does 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  249 

not  rise  higher  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and 
that  at  a  distance  from  it  of  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  Besides,  the  slope  of  the  rubble  does  not 
exceed  an  angle  of  10°  to  12°;  whereas  the  angle  of 
repose  of  loose  gravel  is  40°,  and  that  of  rubble  45°, 
-though  these  would  be  somewhat  diminished,  but  not 
to  that  extent,  by  the  greater  fluidity  of  the  mass  pro- 
duced by  the  snow.  Nor  w^ould  a  sludge  of  ice,  snow, 
and  rock-debris  in  motion  be  more  favorable  than  run- 
ning water  for  the  preservation  of  the  land-shells  and 
mammalian  bones. 

"Another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  ice-and-snow 
hypothesis  is  the  small  size  of  the  areas  (at  times  to 
be  measured  by  acres)  that  form  the  centers  of  disper- 
sion, and  the  small  gradients  and  short  lengths  of  the 
slopes.  It  is  ver}^  different  in  a  mountainous  district, 
where  the  frozen  masses  are  large  and  the  slopes  steep; 
but  with  the  gentle  slopes  of  the  South  Downs  how 
would  the  winter's  ice  and  snow  on  them  have  been 
equal  to  the  propulsion  of  the  debris  of  flints  and  loam 
across  the  Sussex  Coast  plain — a  distance  of  from  two 
to  five  miles  over  a  comparatively  level  surface?  Or, 
to  take  the  case  of  the  Isle  of  Portland,  is  it  likely — 
with  its  length  of  three  miles  and  its  gradient  of  about 
one  in  forty  feet — that  the  ice  and  snow  could  have 
forcibly  driven  down  the  '  head  '  in  one  direction  over 
the  raised  beach  southward,  and  in  the  other  direction 
have  sent  the  large  mass  of  Chesilton  debris  northward  ? 
Even  in  the  case  cited  by  Mr.  Drew,  where  the  moun- 
tains rise  several  thousand   feet  above  the  valley,   the 


250  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

cones  of  dejection  do  not  extend  more  than  one  mile 
from  the  point  of  discharge,  while  at  the  base  of  the 
cones  the  debris  has  a  thickness  of  five  hundred  feet. 
Nor  is  it  possible  that  either  snow  or  rainfall  on  open 
ground  could  have  transported  the  huge  blocks  found 
in  the  '  head.'  " 

After,  in  like  manner,  considering  all  the  other  the- 
ories put  forth  to  account  for  this  remarkable  formation, 
it  would  seem  that  there  is  only  one  left  which  suffi- 
ciently covers  all  the  facts,  namely,  that  this  rubble 
drift  has  been  swept  off  from  the  higher  surfaces  to  the 
lower  in  every  direction  by  a  general  movement  of 
overlying  v/ater  produced  by  the  elevatory  force  of 
successive  earthquake  shocks,  such  as  cause  tidal  waves 
like  that  which  destroyed  the  city  of  Lisbon  in  1755, 
and  which  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence  during  the 
past  century  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America. 
These  waves  are  produced  by  a  sudden  uplift  of  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  where  the  water  is  comparatively 
shallow.  In  the  recent  earthquake  which  destroyed 
San  Francisco,  the  vertical  movement  of  the  land 
amounted  to  ten  feet  in  places.  But  most  instructive 
of  all  is  the  report  made  the  present  season  by  Professor 
R.  S.  Tarr  of  his  studies  along  the  "  fault  "  produced 
by  the  earthquake  of  1899  along  the  coast  of  South- 
eastern Alaska.'* 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  hi  Europe.  251 

"  On  one  stretch  of  coast,"  he  says,  "  the  uplift 
amounted  to  eighteen  or  nineteen  feet,  and  opposite 
this,  on  the  other  side  of  the  fiord,  from  thirty  to  forty- 
seven  feet  for  a  distance  of  five  or  six  miles.  This  is 
the  greatest  uplift  of  the  land  ever  recorded  as  having 
occurred  at  a  single  period  of  time." 

"  This  deformation  of  the  earth's  crust,  with  its 
accompanying  uplift  of  the  coast,  and  the  associated 
earthquake  shocks,  is  of  decided  geological  interest  en- 
tirely aside  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  greatest  change 
of  level  so  far  recorded.  It  is  a  representation  of  the 
processes  by  which  mountains  have  grown  in  the  past— ^ 
a  lesson  of  the  present  for  use  in  interpretation  of  the 
changes  of  the  past.  It  shows  us  plainly,  what  other 
regions  have  shown  less  strikingly,  that  the  process  of 
mountain  growth  Is  still  in  operation :  and  it  tells  us 
not  only  that  the  St.  Elias  chain  is  now  growing,  but 
that  in  a  single  month  it  was  uplifted,  in  at  least  one 
point,  as  much  as  forty-seven  feet. 

"  We  do  not  know  how  far  this  uplift  extended  on 
either  side  of  Yakutat  Bay ;  but  the  fact  that  there  was 
such  a  vigorous  shock  at  the  Muir  Glacier  in  the  same 
month  suggests  the  probability  that  it  extended  at  least 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles  towards  the  south- 
east. 

We  will  permit  Professor  Prestwich  to  explain  the 
formation  of  the  rubble  drift  in  his  own  words : — 

"  It  is  evident  that  the  force — whatever  It  was — 
which   determined   the   formation   of   the   rubble  drift 


252  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

acted  from  above  downwards.  This,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, might  have  been  the  result  of  the  descent 
from  the  hilltops  of  ice  and  snow,  or  of  water.  Ice 
might  have  acted  in  some  respects  in  accordance  with 
the  observed  phenomena,  but  in  other  respects  there  are 
the  objections  I  have  already  named;  and  with  regard 
to  rain  and  surface-waters,  the  results  are,  as  I  have 
shown,  irreconcilable  with  their  agency.  But  there  is 
another  form  under  which  we  may  consider  the  action 
of  water,  and  this,  although  not  free  from  objections, 
answers  to  all  the  physical  conditions  of  the  case. 

*'  It  is  that  of  water  in  a  body,  not  moving  rapidly 
over  the  surface  as  in  a  wave  of  translation,  but  dis- 
placed from  a  state  of  rest,  while  the  land  is  in  process 
of  elevation  from  beneath  it.  There  is  the  objection, 
amongst  others,  to  a  wave  of  translation  that  it  would 
carry  the  debris  in  one  prevailing  direction,  and  in  each 
locality  we  should  have  foreign  elements  more  or  less 
largely  introduced,  and  the  drift  assuming  a  '  crag-and- 
tail  '  arrangement  behind  the  hills ;  whereas  no  such 
distribution  prevails,  but  on  the  contrary  we  have  in 
the  area  we  have  described  a  number  of  local  centers 
from  which  the  drift  diverges  in  different  or  in  qua- 
quaversal  directions  and  combines  in  the  intervening 
valleys.  This  is  a  result  which  would  necessarily  fol- 
low on  the  emergence  of  land  from  beneath  a  body  of 
water,  and  such  seems  to  me  the  most  probable  solution 
of  the  problem  we  have  before  us. 

"  I  am  therefore  led  to  suppose  that  a  submergence 
of  the  land  which,  judging  from  the  heights  at  which 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


253 


Diagram  showing  the  Direction  of  the  Currents  on  a  Hill 
Range  during  Uplift. 


"o  being  the  parting-line  or  watershed  between  the  superin- 
cumbent waters  AB,  the  divergent  currents  during  uplift  will 
be  in  the  directions  indicated  by  arrows;  but  while  A  moves 
down  a  short  steep  slope  for  a  distance  x,  B  passes  over  a  sur- 
face equal  to  some  multiple  of  x  in  the  same  time.  Conse- 
quently there  will  be,  independently  ot  other  causes,  a  larger 
volume  of  drift  collected  at  the  base  of  a  than  of  a,  and  this 
disproportion  is  very  apparent  in  the  case  of  most  of  our  Chalk 
ranges. 

"  Where  the  course  of  the  ossiferous  drift  is  along  made, 
narrow  channels,  it  would  pass  down  them  and  spread  out 
fan-shaped  at  their  termination,  as  at  Upchurch  and  Farn- 
ham." 


254  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

the  rubble  drift  is  found,  could  not  have  been  less  than 
one  thousand  feet,  followed  immediately  upon  the  epoch 
of  the  low-level  valley  drifts  and  the  Caves.  There  is 
little  or  nothing  to  show  as  a  direct  consequence  of  the 
submergence.  The  land  over  which  the  waters  spread 
seems  to  have  undergone  but  trifling  alteration  or  denu- 
dation. The  raised  beaches  exhibit  in  consequence 
thereof  no  apparent  erosion,  and  the  blown  sands  only 
slight  denudation  ;  and  this  may  be  due  to  the  impact 
of  the  '  head.'  It  is  even  difficult  to  say  whether  their 
irregular  thickness  and  eroded  surface  resulted  during 
the  submergence  or  emergence  of  the  land.  I  can  only 
conclude  that  the  submergence  was  slow  and  gradual, 
yet  sufficiently  rapid  to  prevent  wave-action  from  re- 
moving the  whole  of  the  blown  sands,  or  from  forming 
terraces,  which  it  would  have  done  had  the  fall  been 
prolonged  or  subject  to  long  interruptions.  For  the 
same  reason  no  portion  of  the  strand  was  washed  on  to 
the  land. 

"  The  absence  of  marine  shells  in  the  submerged  land 
may  seem  a  difficulty.  Had  the  submergence  been  of 
long  duration,  a  marine  fauna  would  necessarily  have 
established  itself;  and  I  can  only  account  for  its  ab- 
sence by  supposing  that  reelevation  followed,  after  but 
a  short  interval,  on  the  previous  subsidence.  The  phys- 
ical results  of  that  elevation  are  sufl'iciently  definite  to 
justify  our  assumption,  and  are  explanatory  of  the 
conditions  under  which  it  was  in  all  probability  ef- 
fected. 

"  Mr.  W.  Hopkins  •'  has  shown  that  if  a  considera- 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  255 

ble  area  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  were  suddenly  elevated, 
a  wave  of  translation  accompanied  by  a  current,  the 
velocity  of  which  would  depend  principally  upon  the 
depth  of  the  sea,  would  diverge  in  all  directions  from 
the  central  disturbance.  Calculations,  he  says,  '  prove 
beyond  all  doubt  that  paroxysmal  elevations,  beneath 
the  sea,  varying  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  in  height, 
may  produce  currents  of  which  the  velocities  shall  vary 
from  at  least  five  or  six  to  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an 
hour,  provided  the  depth  of  the  sea  do  not  exceed  eight 
hundred  or  one  thousand  feet.'  In  considering  the 
magnitude  of  the  blocks  which  might  be  moved,  he 
found  that  the  force  exerted  on  the  surface  of  given 
magnitude  increases  as  the  square  of  the  velocity,  and 
that  it  '  varies  as  the  sixth  poiver  of  the  velocity  of  the 
current.'  But  the  movements  must  be  repeated  for 
large  blocks  to  travel  beyond  short  distances. 

"  It  is  evident  that  we  have  in  this  form  of  disturb- 
ance an  engine  of  enormous  power;  and  thou-gh  our 
hypothesis  does  not  deal  with  the  great  changes  and 
powerful  currents  contemplated  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  we 
may  infer  what  the  results  might  be  with  even  a  frac- 
tional proportion  of  such  changes.  Movements  of  this 
character  would,  like  Nasmyth's  hammer,  be  capable 
at  times  when  the  uplift  was  rapid  of  exerting  enormous 
force;  while  at  other  times,  when  the  uplift  was  slow, 
the  action  might  be  of  the  most  gentle  character. 
Hopkins's  calculations  were  made  for  one  central  area 
of  elevation,  and  dealt  with  surrounding  level  surfaces. 
In  the  case  before  us  the  area  of  elevation  consisted  of 


256  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

a  variable  and  uneven  land-surface,  so  that  each  hill 
or  group  of  hills  formed  a  center  for  the  divergent  cur- 
rents, the  velocity  of  which  would  further  vary  accord- 
ing to  the  varying  gradients  and  lengths  of  the  slopes. 
"  It  follows  from  these  premises  that  the  character 
of  the  deposits  formed  under  such  circumstances  will 
afford  a  relative  measure  of  the  velocity  and  duration 
of  the  currents  under  which  they  were  accumulated. 
Where,  for  example,  the  sediment  is  fine,  we  may  con- 
clude that  the  velocity  was  slow,  and  the  rise  which 
gave  origin  to  it  small.  When,  on  the  contrary,  the 
materials  are  coarse,  we  may  suppose  the  rise  to  have 
been  more  rapid  and  the  velocity  of  the  current  greater. 
Where,  again,  large  blocks  have  been  transported,  a 
more  energetic  movement  is  made  manifest.  Some  in- 
dication also  of  the  duration  of  the  uplift  is  afforded 
by  the  mass  of  the  material  moved  and  distance  trav- 
ersed." 

2.  Ossiferous  Fissures. — The  same  theory  is  de- 
manded to  explain  the  "  ossiferous  fissures  "  abundant 
in  Southern  England  and  in  France,  and  long  ago  de- 
scribed by  Buckland  in  his  "  Reliquiae  Diluvianae," 
but  not  fully  understood  by  him.  These  fissures  abound 
in  the  limestone  regions  of  Southern  England.  They 
are  not  caverns  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but 
simply  fissures,  open  at  the  top  and  extending  down 
perpendicularly,  or  at  a  slight  inclination,  sometimes 
a  hundred  and  forty  feet.     They  are  filled  with  angu- 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  257 

lar  rock  fragments,  broken  and  splintered  bones  whose 
fractured  edges  are  unworn  and  sharp,  all  cemented 
together  in  a  matrix  of  sand,  earth,  and  clay  through 
which  lime  has  filtered,  making  what  is  called  a  breccia. 
The  bones  represent  the  horse,  ox,  deer,  wolf,  hyena, 
tiger,  hare,  water  rat,  weasel,  boar,  and  some  other 
animals. 

It  is  acknowledged  by  all  that  these  fissures  have 
been  filled  in  from  above,  and  it  was  the  opinion  of 
Dr.  Buckland,  that  the  process  had  been  very  gradual, 
and  that  the  animals  had  accidentally  fallen  in  from 
time  to  time.  An  unanswerable  objection  to  this  the- 
ory is,  that,  though  the  opportunities  for  observation 
have  been  very  extensive,  in  no  case  has  a  complete 
skeleton  of  any  animal  been  found,  or  even  scattered 
bones  that  would  make  a  skeleton.  If  animals  had 
fallen  in,  as  Buckland  supposed,  it  is  inconceivable  that 
this  result  should  have  followed.  In  the  fissure  at 
Oreston,  Mr.  Cottle  collected  1,587  teeth  of  the  ani- 
mals above  mentioned,  147  jaws,  250  vertebras,  and  26 
skulls;  but  there  was  not  a  single  whole  skeleton,  nor 
did  any  of  the  bones  show  marks  of  wear,  such  as 
would  appear  if  they  had  been  rolled  along  by  a  run- 
ning stream  of  water,  nor  did  any  show  the  marks  of 
hyenas'  teeth,  which  are  common  upon  the  fragments 
of  the  ordinary  caves. 


258  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

After  considering  exhaustively  all  possible  modes  of 
accounting  for  these  facts,  Professor  Prestwich  finds 
himself  limited,  as  before,  to  the  hypothesis  of  a  brief 
submergence  of  the  land,  such  as  would  drive  the  ani- 
mals in  a  heterogeneous  mass  to  the  higher  lands,  where 
they  would  be  drowned,  and  their  remains  scattered 
over  the  surface.  After  time  enough  had  elapsed  for 
their  carcasses  thoroughly  to  decay,  the  reemergence  of 
the  land  distributed  the  bones  by  the  same  process  that 
determined  the  distribution  of  the  rubble  drift.  As 
the  material  was  swept  along  by  the  successive  impulses 
of  uplift  beneath  the  water,  the  fissures  along  the  slopes 
became  filled  in  the  heterogeneous  manner  described. 

Among  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  fissures 
supposed  to  have  been  filled  in  this  way  is  that  at  San- 
tenay,  a  few  miles  south  of  Chalons,  in  Central  France. 
This  is  situated  upon  an  isolated  hill  connected  with 
the  range  of  Cote-d'Or,  1,030  feet  above  the  valley  of 
the  Saone,  which  is  here  six  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea.  Two  ordinary  bone-caves  occur  upon  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  hill,  containing  remains  of  the  horse,  wolf, 
fox,  bear,  lion,  deer,  ox,  elephant,  and  rhinoceros. 

The  fissure  under  consideration  is  near  the  summit 
of  the  hill,  and  is  filled  with  a  breccia — 

"  composed  of  the  fragments  of  the  adjacent  rocks,  em- 
bedded in  a  3^ellow  or  brownish  earth,  with  bones  which 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


259 


Grette  lit.  h^ 
P)iinte  S^Xean. 


ViUaqe  de  Santenaif. 


The  Mountain  of  Santenay. 


Concerning  the  above  illustration,  taken  from  Prestwich,  he 
further  remarks:  1.  That  it  is  outside  of  the  Alpine  glaciated 
region,  and  could  not  have  been  overtopped  by  floods  in  the 
Saone,  caused  by  a  glacial  dam  at  Lyons.  2.  That,  as  there 
were  no  entire  skeletons  in  the  fissure,  and  indeed  none  in  any 
of  the  similar  fissures  in  France,  the  bones  could  not  have 
accumulated  by  the  chance  falling  in  of  animals.  The  bones 
were  without  order  and  in  no  possible  relative  proportion. 
3.  That,  under  extreme  glacial  conditions,  herds  of  such  ani- 
mals would  have  not  resorted  to  high  hills,  but  would  have 
retreated  to  the  open  plains.  "  It  is  inconceivable  that  under 
any  ordinary  circumstances  the  predaceous  animals  and  their 
victims  should  have  congregated  together  on  the  summit  of 
a  high,  steep,  and  isolated  hill."  4.  That  it  is  not  possible 
to  suppose  the  animals  were  driven  to  the  summit  by  floods 
produced  by  excessive  rainfall,  unless  it  were  a  hundred  times 
greater  than  at  present.  The  general  opinion  of  the  members 
of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  who  visited  the  place  in 
1876  was,  that  "  the  animals  had  fallen  victims  to  floods,  but 
whether  caused  either  by  dams  of  ice,  the  melting  of  snow- 
fields,  or  excessive  rainfall,  was  left  indeterminate." 


26o  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

were  determined  by  Professor  A.  Gaudry  to  be  of  the 
cave  lion,  lynx,  horse,  wolf  (very  abundant),  fox, 
badger,  bear,  hare,  rhinoceros,  hog,  ox,  and  deer.  The 
bones  were  in  a  very  broken  state.  M.  Gaudry  ob- 
serves that  their  accumulation  could  neither  be  at- 
tributed to  man  nor  to  animals,  for  the  fractures  in  no 
way  resemble  those  made  by  man  for  the  purpose  of 
extracting  the  marrow,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
abundance  of  wolves,  none  of  the  bones  show  traces  of 
having  been  gnawed  by  carnivora.  How  then  could 
this  collection  have  been  brought  together?  As  M. 
Gaudry  justly  remarks,  '  why  should  so  many  luolves, 
bears,  horses,  and  oxen  have  ascended  a  hill  isolated  on 
all  sides?'  M.  Gaudry  further  remarks  that  the  de- 
posit seems  to  have  been  formed  by  water  precipitating 
the  breccia  and  the  bones  into  a  fissure.  '  But  whence,' 
he  says,  '  have  come  the  waters  sufficiently  abundant 
to  bring  together  the  bones?'  The  fissure  is  so  near 
the  top  of  the  hill  that  there  is  little  gathering  ground 
above  it,  and  had  the  bones  and  fragments  of  rock  been 
carried  in  by  a  stream  or  torrential  rains,  they  must 
have  shown  more  or  less  wear,  and  have  lost  their 
sharp  angles." 

After  duly  considerir.g  all  other  suggested  hypothe- 
ses. Professor  Prestwich  applies  his  theory  for  the 
solution  of  the  problem  in  the  following  forcible  para- 
graph :— 

"  The  condition  and  position  of  the  bones  are,  on 
the  other  hand,  at  Santenay  and  Pedemar,  as  they  are 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  261 

at  Oreston  and  Catsdown,  such  as  might  result  from 
the  effects  of  a  gradual  submergence  of  the  land.     For 
a  submergence  of  the  character  I  have  described  would 
naturally  drive  the  animals  in  the  plains  to  seek  refuge 
on  the  higher  hills.     Flying  in  terror  and  cov^^ed  by  the 
common    danger,    the    carnivora    and    herbivora    alike 
sought  refuge  on  the  same  spot,  and  alike  suffered  the 
same  fate  w^herever  the  hill  w^as  isolated  and  not  of  a 
height  sufficient  for  them  to  escape  the  advancing  flood. 
We  may  suppose  the  subsidence  to  have  been  so  slow 
that  there  was  no  sudden  rush  of  water  to  carry  the 
bodies  far  away,  so  that  as  they  decayed,  the  Ifmbs  fell 
and  were  scattered  and  dispersed  irregularly  on  the  sub- 
marine surface.      When   that   surface   was   again    up- 
heaved, the  bones  and  detached  limbs,  together  with  the 
detritus  on   that  surface,  were,   as   I   have  before  ex- 
plained, carried  down  by  divergent  currents  to  lower 
levels,  or  they  fell  into  fissures  of  the  rock  over  which 
the  detrital   matter  passed,   or  else,   when   facing  the 
coast,  over  the  ledges  of  the  old  cliffs  rising  above  the 
raised  beaches.     Sw^ept  down  by  the  intermittent  cur- 
rents produced  by  the  more  or  less  rapid  uplifts,  and 
falling  with  the  mass  of  detritus  in  a  body  over  the  old 
cliffs  or  into  the  open  fissures,  the  bones,   in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other,  were  broken  and  smashed  in  the 
extraordinary  manner  we  now  find  them.     Added  to 
this  was  the  fall,  caused  by  the  earth  tremors  inevitable 
with  such  movements,  of  fragments  of  rock,  some  of 
large  size,  from  the  sides  of  the  fissures,  so  that  very 
few  of  the  bones  escaped  whole.    At  the  same  time,  the 


262  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

action  was  of  too  short  duration,  and  the  transport  was 
too  short  a  distance  to  wear  down  the  sharp  angles 
either  of  the  rock  or  the  bone  fragments.  Raised  again 
to  the  surface,  the  rain  waters,  percolating  through  the 
calcareous  rocks  traversed  by  the  fissures,  and  carrying 
down  carbonate  of  lime,  have  generally  cemented  the 
debris  of  the  fissures,  and  occasionally  of  portions  of 
the  'head'  (Brighton),  into  a  hard  brecciated  mass 
from  which  it  is  now  difficult  to  extract  the  bones. 
Where,  on  the  contrary,  the  debris  remained  loose  on 
the  surface  and  formed  permeable  superficial  drift,  the 
effect  of  water  percolation  has  been  to  remove  the  cal- 
careous matter  together  with  the  bones,  so  that  where 
thus  exposed,  the  rubble  is  more  unfossiliferous  than 
when  it  lies  in  fissures  or  hollows  where  the  surface 
waters  could  not  freely  percolate." 

An  equally  striking  application  of  the  theory  is 
found  on  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  where  fissures  nearly 
three  hundred  feet  deep  occur,  filled  with  breccia  sim- 
ilar to  that  already  described.  In  the  case  of  Gibraltar, 
strong  additional  support  to  Professor  Prestwich's  opin- 
ion is  given  by  consideration  of  the  smallness  of  the 
area  at  the  top  of  the  rock.  The  animals  found  in  the 
f  fissures  on  Gibraltar  are  nearly  the  same  as  those  enu- 
merated at  Santenay.  It  is  in  the  highest  degree  im- 
probable that  all  these  various  wild  animals  could  have 
at  any  time  or  habitually  lived  together  on  the  rock. 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


263 


Tranverse  Section  of  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar. 


a,  limestone  breccia,  or  rubble  drift;  L,  limestone;  S,  shale; 
X,  ossiferous  fissures;  c,  raised  beach.  "The  well-known  Rock 
is  an  isolated  hill,  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  few 
miles  of  flat  ground  about  ten  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  is 
composed  of  hard  limestones  of  Jurassic  age,  forming  a  high, 
scraggy  ridge,  rather  more  than  two  and  a  half  miles  long, 
from  550  to  1,550  yards  broad,  and  rising  at  the  north  end 
to  the  height  of  1,349  feet.  .  .  .  The  Rock  has  been  extensively 
faulted  and  fissured.  Large  rents,  some  perpendicular,  and 
others  inclined  at  various  angles,  and  extending  to  great 
depths,  traverse  it  in  different  directions.  They  are  met  with 
at  all  heights  up  to  1,100  feet."  One  fissure  is  290  feet  deep, 
and  another  288.  In  one  of  these,  at  a  depth  of  fifty-three  feet, 
the  workmen  found,  in  red  breccia,  two  teeth  of  rhinoceros, 
a  human  molar  tooth  which  had  never  been  cut,  together  with 
a  flint  knife,  and  numerous  large  pieces  of  flint. 


264  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

"  The  crags  and  caves  may  have  been  the  resort  of 
hyaenas  and  other  predaceous  animals,  but  the  deer, 
and  other  ruminants,  the  remains  of  which  were  numer- 
ous, could  never  have  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  these 
carnivora.  They  would  naturally  have  frequented  the 
surrounding  plains  and  forests,  where  they  could  have 
found  food,  shelter,  and  water,  rather  than  scrags — 
dry  and  in  great  part  barren.  It  is  true  that  the  preda- 
ceous animals  might  have  carried  there  some  portions 
of  their  prey,  but  had  they  done  so,  either  the  bones 
w^ould  have  been  devoured,  or  such  as  remained  must 
inevitably  have  shown  marks  of  the  animals'  teeth. 

"  In  the  second  place,  no  animal  remains  left  on  the 
surface  could  possibly  have  escaped  destruction  in  the 
proximity  of  ground  frequented  by  hyaenas  and  other 
carnivora ;  or,  supposing  any  bones  had  escaped,  they 
would  have  decayed  under  ordinary  atmospheric  agen- 
cies, and  exhibited  more  or  less  weathering;  had  they 
also  been  washed  down  by  streams  and  amongst  rocks, 
they  would  have  been  rolled  and  worn.  But  there  is 
no  evidence  of  weathering  or  wear,  nor  is  it  shown  that 
the  fissures  are  connected  with  old  watercourses.  The 
bones  have  clear  and  sharp  fractured  edges.  Only  in 
two  instances  it  is  mentioned  that  the  bones  present  the 
appearance  of  being  weathered  and  sun-cracked,  and 
this  seems  to  refer  to  those  found  with  human  remains 
and  works  of  art,  and  not  to  the  older  breccia. 

"  For  these  reasons  I  think  this  explanation  cannot  be 
accepted,  and  would  again  revert  to  the  hypothesis  of 
a  submergence  of  the  land.     This  affords  a  vera  causa 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  265 

for  the  association  of  animals  otherwise  so  little  likely 
to  be  found  together.  It  could  only  have  been,  as  in 
the  cases  I  have  before  named,  a  great  and  common 
danger,  such  as  that  of  the  gradual  encroachment  of  the 
sea  on  the  land,  that  could  have  so  paralyzed  their  nat- 
ural instincts  as  to  have  driven  those  various  animals 
to  flock  together  in  search  of  a  common  place  of  refuge 
from  a  catastrophe  w^hich  threatened  all  alike.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  ruminants  would  naturally  flee 
from  the  plain  to  the  higher  hills,  and  when  these  were 
isolated,  as  in  this  and  the  other  cases  I  have  named, 
whenever  the  waters  rose  above  those  hills,  they  were 
drowned  and  their  limbs  dispersed  in  the  manner  I 
have  before  described." 

We  have  room  for  but  one  more  illustration  upon 
this  point.  Near  Palermo,  upon  the  island  of  Sicily, 
there  is  an  ossiferous  breccia  of  a  very  remarkable  and 
unique  character,  containing  an  enormous  number  of 
hippopotamus  bones,  which  are  so  fresh  that  they  are 
cut  into  ornaments  and  polished,  and  when  burnt  give 
out  ammoniacal  vapor.  More  than  twenty  tons  of 
bones  were  shipped  from  this  one  place  for  commercial 
purposes  in  the  first  six  months  after  their  discovery. 
The  bones  were  mostly  those  of  hippopotami,  with  a 
few  only  of  deer,  ox,  and  elephant.  They  belong  to 
animals  of  all  ages  down  to  the  foetus.  The  bones  of 
the  various  animals  were  mixed  together  without  order, 


Mouth  of  the  Cave  of  San  Ciro,  near  Palermo. 
(Photograph  by  Frederick  B.  Wright.) 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  267 

and  were  broken,  scattered,  and  dispersed  in  fragments, 
and  none  of  them  bore  marks  of  gnawing.  The  cavern 
is  at  San  Ciro,  about  two  miles  from  Palermo,  and  is 
at  the  base  of  the  remarkable  amphitheater  of  hills  sur- 
rounding the  plain  on  all  sides,  except  towards  the  sea. 
The  hills  are  from  two  thousand  to  four  thousand  feet 
in  height.  The  amphitheater  is  from  two  to  four  miles 
in  diameter,  and  the  elevation  of  the  rock  shelter  is 
about  tv/o  hundred  feet  above  the  sea. 

"  The  circumstances,  therefore,  which  led  to  these 
remarkable  accumulations  of  the  remains  of  the  hippo- 
potami must  have  been  extraordinary,  and  I  see  no 
hypothesis  which  meets  the  case,  so  well  as  the  one  that 
I  have  suggested  to  account  for  the  bones  of  mammalia 
in  the  rubble  drift  and  in  the  ossiferous  fissures,  though 
the  local  conditions  in  this  case  are  peculiar. 

"  On  the  submergence  of  the  Sicilian  area,  the  wild 
animals  of  the  plains  would,  as  in  the  case  of  Santenay, 
Cette,  and  Gibraltar,  be  driven  to  seek  refuge  on  the 
nearest  adjacent  high  ground  and  hills.  In  the  instance 
before  us,  the  animals  must  have  fled  to  the  amphitheater 
of  hills  which  encircle  the  plain  of  Palermo  on  all  sides 
except  the  sea,  and  on  the  slopes  of  which  the  Cave  of 
San  Ciro  and  the  others  are  located.  As  the  waters 
rose,  the  area  of  this  plain  became  more  and  more  cir- 
cumscribed, and  retreat  more  and  more  impossible,  ex- 
cept through  a  few  rare  passes  in  the  range  of  hills, 
until,  at  last,  the  animals  were  driven  together  at  the 


268  Evidences  of  a  Deluge'  in  Europe. 

base  of  the  hills,  where  they  were  stopped  by  mural 
precipices  impassable  to  the  larger  and  heavier  animals, 
though  some  of  the  more  active  and  agile  ruminants 
and  carnivores  may  have,  and,  judging  by  the  rarity 
of  their  remains,  probably  did  escape  to  the  mountains 
behind.  Retreat  entirely  cut  off  by  projecting  promon- 
tories on  either  side,  the  only  paths  yet  open  to  the 
imprisoned  herds  were  those  that  led  to  the  caves,  which 
were  a  little  above  the  general  level  of  the  plain. 
Hither  the  animals  must  have  thronged  in  vast  multi- 
tudes, crushing  into  the  caves  and  swarming  over  the 
ground  at  their  entrance,  where  they  were  eventually 
overtaken  by  the  waters  and  destroyed,  and,  as  their 
bodies  decayed,  a  confused  mass  of  their  remains  were 
left  and  scattered  on  or  near  the  spot  where  they  finally 
congregated. 

"  For  reasons  before  given,  the  land  could  not  have 
remained  long  submerged.  As  it  rose  intermittently 
from  beneath  the  waters,  our  supposition  is  that  the 
rocky  debris  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  was  hurled  down 
by  the  effluent  waters  on  to  the  piles  of  bones  below, 
breaking  them  into  fragments,  and  forming,  together 
with  them,  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  bones  and  rubble 
constituting  the  breccia.  The  last  more  rapid  uplift, 
the  effects  of  which  are  so  frequently  seen  in  many  sec- 
tions of  the  '  head,'  brought  down  the  larger  blocks  of 
rock  that  now  lie  on  the  top  of  the  whole.  Scina,  an 
independent  witness,  inferred  from  the  character  of 
the  rock  fragments,  and  from  the  red  clay  in  which  they 
are    imbedded — and    which    comes    from    decomposed 


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iaiasijsaii'iiiiiiiiiiiiwgiiiiiiii'iiiiiiiiiiKiiaaiiiiiiiE  ( 


270  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

rock  surfaces  on  the  hills  above — that,  in  the  case  of 
the  Belliemi  breccia,  both  the  detritus  and  the  bones 
had  been  washed  down  from  Monte  Belliemi.  All  this 
must  have  been  effected  in  a  space  of  time  comparatively 
so  short,  that,  though  the  bodies  of  the  animals  decaj^ed, 
the  bones  underwent  but  little  change,  nor,  encased  as 
they  became  in  an  almost  impermeable  breccia,  has  the 
change  they  have  since  undergone  been  great. 

"  Thus  there  is,  in  all  the  essential  conditions,  a 
close  agreement  between  this  Sicilian  breccia  and  the 
rubble  drift  of  the  south  of  England,  as  likewise  with 
the  rubble  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Genay,  of  the  Rock 
of  Gibraltar,  and  of  other  places  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages.  In  all,  the  debris  consists  strictly  of  local 
materials;  the  fragments  are  angular  and  sharp;  the 
bones  are  mostly  in  fragments,  and  are  neither  gnawed 
nor  worn ;  and  the  faunal  remains  are  those  alone  of  a 
land  surface,  and  of  species  such  as  then  were  to  be 
found  in  the  district.  This  rubble,  also,  forms  in  all 
these  cases  the  last  of  the  drift  beds.  The  only  appar- 
ent difference  arises  from  the  circumstance  that,  in  the 
Sicilian  area,  the  geographical  configuration  was  that 
of  a  land-locked  bay  with  many  minor  bays  or  em- 
brasures in  the  front  of  the  hill-range,  so  that,  as  the 
waters  rose,  the  animals  of  the  plain  were  driven  to- 
gether, as  in  a  seine,  into  those  bays,  where,  as  a  last 
resource,  they  sought  shelter  under  the  mural  precipices 
and  in  the  more  accessible  caves.  As  these  precipices 
were  nearly  vertical,  they  formed,  as  the  land  rose 
again,  a  partial  protection  from  the  effluent  currents. 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  271 

which  otherwise  might  have  carried  the  debris  to  a 
greater  distance  outwards.  Under  no  other  circum- 
stance that  I  can  conceive  could  the  animal  remains 
have  been  massed  as  they  are  at  the  foot  of  the  escarp- 
ments encircling  the  plain  of  Palermo. 

"  It  may  be  asked  how  could  large  herds  of  hippo- 
potami have  existed  in  so  liinited  a  plain  as  that  of 
Palermo.  It  needed  then  to  have  had  much  greater  ex- 
tent and  larger  rivers.  I  have  shown  that  the  present 
height  of  the  raised  beaches  on  the  English  coast  does 
not  give  the  initial  upheaval,  but  is  the  sum  of  the  dif- 
ferences of  several  earth-movements — that  the  primary 
upheaval  of  the  beaches  was  not  less  than  one  hundred 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  greater  than  the  altitude 
at  which  they  now  stand,  and  that  this  led  to  the  con- 
version of  a  considerable  extent  of  the  area  of  the 
Bristol  and  English  Channels  into  dry  land.  What 
little  evidence  we  have  on  the  coast  of  Malta,  and  of 
Greece,  points  to  similar  elevations  of  the  coasts  of 
the  Mediterranean,  so  that  large  tracts  of  dry  land  may 
then  have  existed  between  the  Sicilian  and  Italian 
shores,  and  formed  suitable  pasture  grounds  for  the 
hippopotami.  With  increase  of  the  land  area,  so  would 
the  rivers  also  have  had  increased  size,  and  though  they 
may  not  have  been  very  large,  yet  as  Sir  S.  Baker  has 
shown,  perennial  waters  are  not  indispensable  to  the 
hippopotamus,  for  in  the  Settite  and  other  rivers  of  the 
Soudan,  those  huge  animals  tide  over  the  dry  season, 
by  resorting  to  the  few  pools  left  in  the  dried-up  chan- 
nels of  the  rivers." 


272  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

Not  to  pause  longer  upon  the  numerous  other  facts 
collected  by  Professor  Prestwich  bearing  upon  this 
point,  we  turn  finally  to  select  one  from  his  many  illus- 
trations drawn  from — 

3.  The  Loess  Deposits  of  Europe. — It  is  well,  how- 
ever, to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  fact  that 
the  origin  of  the  loess  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  which  geologists  have  to  consider,  and  that 
here,  as  in  the  other  evidence,  it  is  the  wide  experience 
and  great  skill  of  Professor  Prestwich  which  have  en- 
abled him  clearly  to  see  the  bearing  of  the  facts  pre- 
sented. For  evidently  the  loess  has  been  distributed  by 
a  variety  of  agencies.  It  is  only  in  special  conditions 
that  its  occurrence  can  have  the  significance  which  Pro- 
fessor Prestwich  assigns  to  it  in  the  instances  adduced 
by  him. 

Loess  is  a  very  fine  superficial  loam  which  is  usually 
devoid  of  any  intermixture  of  sand  or  gravel,  or  indeed 
of  any  grit,  and  without  any  remains  of  marine  and 
rarely  of  fluviatile  shells.  It  can  be  easily  crushed  in 
the  hand  to  an  almost  impalpable  powder,  yet  its  con- 
sistency is  such  that  it  will  support  itself  many  years 
in  vertical  cliffs  a  hundred  feet  and  more  in  height. 
In  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  I  have  seen  on  a  perpendicular 
cliff  of  loess  the  fresh  imprints  of  the  shovel  used  to 
cut  a  roadway  fifty  years  before.      In   China  I   have 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  273 

traveled  for  miles  between  perpendicular  walls  of  loess 
fifty  feet  in  height  through  a  road  worn  by  centuries 
of  travel.  It  is  so  porous  that  the  rainfall  all  perco- 
lates to  the  bottom,  so  that  no  springs  appear  except  at 
its  base;  and  yet,  on  account  of  capillary  attraction,  it 
is  never  wholly  free  from  moisture.  In  composition  it 
is  nearly  pure  silica,  or  sand,  with  a  little  carbonate  of 
lime.  This  usually  fills  innumerable  tubular  pores 
which  penetrate  the  mass,  and  give  It  both  its  con- 
sistency and  its  internal  vertical  structure,  causing  it 
to  preserve  a  perpendicular  face  wherever  it  is  exca- 
vated. Its  characteristics  are  unmistakable,  and  are 
identical  the  world  over. 

Along  the  Missouri  River  from  Kansas  City  far  up 
into  Dakota,  loess  forms  the  lining  bluffs  of  the  valley, 
having  a  depth  of  more  than  a  hundred  feet.  Large 
areas  in  Russia,  China  and  Central  Asia  are  covered 
with  it  to  even  greater  depths,  while  its  occurrence 
along  the  valley  of  the  Rhine  accounts  for  the  German 
name  by  which  it  is  ordinarily  designated. 

The  anomalous  facts  connected  with  its  distribution 
have  greatly  puzzled  geologists.  The  material  is  so 
fine  that  it  is  readily  blown  about  hither  and  thither 
by  the  wind,  so  that  Baron  Richthofen  and  others  main- 
tain that  the  loess  of  China  is  but  the  accumulated  dust 
which  the  westerly  winds  have  brought  over  from  the 


274  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

parched  and  elevated  plains  of  Mongolia  and  Tibet. 
The  definite  relation,  however,  of  the  deposits  to  wa- 
ter-levels in  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Rhine  makes  it  certain  that  in  many  areas  these  are 
water  deposits.  Still,  the  facts  are  so  complicated  that 
Geikie  and  others  think  it  necessary  in  Central  Europe 
to  bring  in  both  wind  and  water  to  account  for  its 
distribution.  In  the  glaciated  regions  both  of  Europe 
and  America  many  anomalous  local  deposits  of  loess 
can  be  readily  accounted  for  by  the  action  of  water  held 
in  place  by  ice  during  the  retreat  of  the  continental  gla- 
cier. No  doubt  the  greater  part  of  the  arguments  for 
the  Flood  drawn  from  the  loess  by  Sir  Henry  Howorth 
and  others  are  explained  by  fuller  knowledge  of  the 
irregularities  produced  by  the  slowly  melting  ice-sheet 
which  covered  the  northern  parts  of  the  continents  of 
Europe  and  America.  But  the  facts  adduced  by  Pro- 
fessor Prestwnch  have  been  carefully  selected  with  ref- 
erence to  this  danger  of  error,  and  strongly  confirm  the 
other  evidence  pointing  so  strongly  to  the  occurrence 
of  a  recent  catastrophe  in  Western  Europe  closely  anal- 
ogous to  that  described  in  the  biblical  account  of  Noah's 
Flood.  A  single  one  of  the  facts  under  this  head  must 
suffice.  A  fuller  discussion  of  some  phases  of  the  sub- 
ject is  naturally  deferred  to  later  chapters,  which  treat 
of  its  distribution  in  Asia  and  America. 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  275 

The  Channel  Islands  of  Guernsey  and  Jersey  are 
surrounded  by  a  raised  beach  which  is  overlaid  by  rub- 
ble drift  such  as  was  described  under  that  head.  The 
greater  part  of  the  island  of  Guernsey,  however,  con- 
sists of  a  plateau  of  granitic  rocks  from  three  hundred 
to  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  sea-level,  but 
without  any  commanding  heights.  The  plateau  is  cov- 
ered very  generally  by  a  deposit  of  loess  or  brick-earth, 
from  five  to  ten  feet  thick,  extending  over  the  highest 
points  of  the  surface.  In  character  this  is  identical 
with  that  on  the  mainland. 

It  is  not  possible  to  account  for  this  deposit  of  loess 
on  any  of  the  theories  which  are  limited  to  river  floods, 
glacial  inundations,  or  rain  wash  as  the  distributing 
agencies;  for — 

"  there  are  no  rivers  in  either  island,  and  the  water- 
courses are  mere  small  brooks  that  could  scarcely  flood 
the  lowest  ground,  and  certainly  could  never,  in  present 
nor  past  times,  have  reached  the  plateau  on  which  the 
loess  occurs.  Nor  are  there  any  hills,  rising  above  the 
general  level  of  the  plateaus,  the  wash  from  which 
could  have  been  spread  over  those  plateaus.  Nor  can  it 
be  admitted  that  it  was  formed  when  the  island  was 
connected  with  the  mainland,  and  that  the  loess  is  due 
to  the  extension  of  the  land  flood-waters,  over  what  was 
then  part  of  the  continental  area;  for,  unless  the  loess 
were  older  than   the  raised  beaches,   it  is  obvious,   as 


276 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 


Raised   Beach   on   the   Island   of    Guernsey. 


Similar  beaches  appear  at  various  points  around  both  the 
island  of  Guernsey  and  of  Jersey.  But,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
illustrations  on  pages  278  and  279,  the  accumulation  of  rubble 
drift  is  naturally  less  than  it  is  on  the  mainland,  where  the 
elevations  in  the  interior  are  higher  and  more  extensive.  It 
is  plain  that  the  covering  of  rubble  drift  could  not  have  been 
brought  into  place  by  local  currents  of  water,  since  there  is  no 
chance  for  the  origin  of  such  streams,  and  the  rubble  drift 
overlies  the  raised  beaches  on  every  side  of  the  islands.  (Pho- 
tograph by  Mr.  J.  E.  L.  Miller.) 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  277 

those  beaches  extended  all  round  the  islands,  that  at 
the  time  of  the  deposition  of  the  loess,  the  islands  were 
then,  as  now,  detached  from  the  mainland.  The  loess, 
in  fact,  is  closely  connected  with  the  '  head,'  and  not 
infrequently  associated  with  it.  A  thin  layer  of  an 
angular  rubble  similar  to  that  which  forms  the  '  head,' 
is  also  often  to  be  found  at  the  base  of  the  loess,  and 
as  the  rubble  is  newer  than  the  beaches,  so  must  the 
loess  likewise  be  newer,  and  subsequent  therefore  to  the 
severance  of  the  islands  from  the  mainland. 

".  .  .  .  that  a  uniform  sediment  of  that  character 
should  be  formed  during  such  a  submergence  as  we 
have  described,  is,  owing  to  the  waste  of  the  softer  sur- 
face beds  and  decomposed  rocks  by  the  advancing  wa- 
ters, what  we  might  expect.  This  waste  was  general 
over  all  the  area  submerged,  and  the  waters  must  have 
been  rendered  turbid  to  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  coast  (on  the  coast  of  China  the  sea  is  colored  yel- 
low to  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles  from  land  by 
the  fine  loess-mud  carried  down  by  the  rivers),  so  that 
not  only  the  mainland  but  the  adjacent  islands  also 
were  covered  with  a  mantle  of  sedimentary  matter  de- 
posited during  those  periods  of  comparative  quiet  or 
lulls,  which  are  shown  to  have  occurred  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  '  head.'  The  absence  of  marine  remains  is 
readily  accounted  for  by  the  temporary  nature  of  the 
occupation  of  the  land  by  the  sea  waters,  as  well  as  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  waters  would  be  rendered 
for  a  time  unfit  for  the  habitation  of  marine  life.  .  .  . 

"  If  we  suppose  that  the  loess  in  these  islands  was 


278  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

deposited  during  and  after  submergence,  it  follows  that 
as  the  land  rose,  it  would  be  removed  where  it  was  in 
the  way  of  the  effluent  currents,  and  carried  with  the 
angular  rubble  down  to  lower  levels,  or  to  a  distance. 
That  this  was  the  case  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
'  head,'  which  covers  the  beaches,  consists  of  angular 
local  rubble,  with  loess  or  brick-earth  (derived  from 
the  plateaus)  as  a  matrix  and  forming  occasional  seams 
and  overlying  beds.  The  following  diagram  will  illus- 
trate my  meaning." 


Lihou 


a.  Brick-earth  or  loess.  e.  Raised  beache/i. 

a.  Rubble-drift  or  "  head."  B.  Slates  and  graQite  rocks. 

Diagram    Section    across   the   Island   of    Guernsey.  ■ 


"  One  feature  that  I  failed  to  notice  in  Guernsey 
occurs  in  marked  distinctness  in  Jersey.  This  is  the 
distance  to  which  the  '  head  '  has  been  propelled  from 
its  base.  The  section  at  the  islet  of  La  Motte  is  es- 
pecially illustrative  of  this  fact.  .  .  .  This  islet  lies  one 
and  one-half  miles  southeast  of  St.  Heliers,  on  a  part 
of  the  coast  where  the  shore  is  low,  but  rising  gradually 
inland  to  a  height,  at  Mont  Ube,  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-nine,  and  at  Prince's  Tower,  two  and  one-half 
miles  inland,  of  two  hundred  feet.  A  rubble  drift 
descends  the  slopes  of  Mont  Ube  and  St.  Clements 
(160  feet)   and  forms  a  small  low  cliff  on  the  coast, 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  279 

while  at  the  distance  of  about  one  thousand  feet  from 
the  shore,  and  accessible  at  low  water,  is  the  small, 
flat  islet  of  La  Motte.  It  is  only  a  few  acres  in  extent, 
and  consists  of  a  base  of  diorite,  capped  by  the  remains 
of  an  old  beach,  overlaid  by  a  mass  of  rubble  drift." 


Section  from  La  Motte  to  Ube. 
a,  rubble  drift,  composed  of  granite  and  diorite  debris,  in  a 
brick  earth,  or  loess,  covered  by   a  sandy  earth   and  soil,     c, 
raised  beach,  only  portions  of  which  remain. 

"  The  syenite  and  diorite  fragments  in  the  rubble 
are  derived  from  the  hills  of  the  adjacent  coast,  while 
the  brick-earth  which  caps  those  hills  forms  the  chief 
portion  of  the  rubble  matrix.  Notwithstanding  the 
slight  difference  of  level  and  the  very  small  gradient 
of  the  slope  from  the  inland  hills  to  La  Motte,  a  con- 
siderable spread  of  rubble  drift  has  been  propelled  thus 
far  out,  which,  I  conceive,  could  only  have  been  effected 
by  a  strong  effluent  current,  passing  from  the  mainland 
seaward  during  the  upheaval  of  the  land.  The  hills 
are  so  low  and  distant  that  no  snow-slide  could  possibly 
have  effected  this  transport." 

"  The  phenomena,  however,  are  readily  explicable 
on  the  assumption  that,  as  with  the  '  head  '  at  Brighton 
and  Sangatte,  the  driving  force  was  that  of  a  superin- 
cumbent body  of  water,  flowing  outwards.  As  at 
Sangatte,   the   forcible   impact   of   the   '  head  '   on   the 


28o  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

beach  has  led  to  the  incorporation  of  fragments  of  the 
beach  in  the  '  head.'  " 

After  giving  further  evidence  that  this  loess  must 
"  have  an  origin  independent  of  those  to  w^hich  it  is 
ordinarily  assigned,"  and  presenting  similar  evidence 
in  a  large-  number  of  other  cases  both  among  the  Chan- 
nel Islands  and  over  widely  spread  portions  of  the  Con- 
tinent, Professor  Prestwich  states  the  probable  method 
of  accumulation  as  follows : — 

"  I  am  well  aware  that  several  objections,  more  or 
less  formidable,  may  be  raised  to  the  hypothesis  which 
I  have  suggested  to  account  for  the  origin  of  this  drift. 
A  few  of  these  I  may  allude  to  here,  though  it  would 
not  be  possible  to  discuss  in  these  pages  the  wide  and 
important  general  questions  involved.  Those  who  hold 
uniformitarian  views  will  object  to  the  want  of  known 
precedents  and  to  the  exceptional  character  of  the 
agency  proposed.  In  this  difliiculty  I  cannot  share.  I 
must  repeat  what  I  have  long  contended  for,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  our  very  limited  experience 
— say  of  two  thousand  years — could  furnish  us  with 
standards  applicable  to  the  comparatively  illimitable 
past.  In  fact,  those  that  are  relied  on  depend  upon 
unstable  conditions  and  are  liable  to  vary  with  every 
passing  century.  While  admitting  the  permanence  of 
the  laivs  of  nature,  it  is  impossible,  under  the  conditions 
through  which  this  globe  has  passed,  to  suppose  that  at 
all  former  periods  the  effects,  which  have  resulted  from 


Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe.  281 

the  operation  of  those  laws,  though  equal  in  kind,  were 
equal  in  degree.  As  in  other  similar  questions,  we 
must  judge  of  the  hypothesis  not  by  an  a  priori  assump- 
tion, but  by  the  agreement  of  the  consequences  which  it 
involves  with  the  facts,  and  by  the  extent  to  which  it 
satisfies  the  various  conditions  of  the  problem." 

"  Whatever  phase  of  the  rubble  drift  we  may  exam- 
ine, we  recognize  in  all  of  them  physical  and  faunal 
conditions  referable  to  the  agency  of  one  and  the  same 
cause.  Whether  we  look  at  ( i )  the  debris  in  one 
section  of  the  loess,  (2)  the  breccia  on  slopes,  (3)  the 
'  head'  over  the  raised  beaches,  (4)  the  basement  grav- 
els of  many  valleys,  or  (5)  the  ossiferous  fissures,  we 
discern  a  complete  absence  of  that  wear  w^hich  results 
from  maintained  river,  sea,  or  ice  action.  Nor  is  there 
any  indication  of  that  transport  of  debris  from  a  dis- 
tance which  attends  river  or  tidal  action.  On  the  con- 
trary, all  the  component  materials  are  of  local  origin, 
derived  from  the  adjacent  slopes  or  hills,  and  they  are 
all  unworn.  The  evidence  of  the  organic  remains  is  to 
the  same  effect,  in  that  they  are  those  of  a  land  fauna 
alone,  with  an  entire  absence  of  marine  and  fluviatile 
remains.  The  bones  found  in  the  rubble  drift  are  not 
only  in  the  same  unworn  condition  as  the  rock  frag- 
ments, but  they  are  free  from  all  marks  of  gnawing. 
This  is  a  proof  that  the  animals  had  not,  as  in  the 
caves,  fallen  a  prey  to  carnivora,  but  must  have  met 
their  death  in  a  way  which  was  unusual — such  as 
from  drowning — for  had  their  bodies  remained  on  a 
land  surface  after  death,  they  would  have  been  subject 


282  Evidences  of  a  Deluge  in  Europe. 

to  being  devoured  by  predaceous  animals,  or  else  the 
bones  would  have  shown  traces  of  weathering  and  wear. 
At  the  same  time  the  sharply  fractured  state  and  dis- 
persion of  the  bones  show  that  they  must  have  been  sub- 
jected to  considerable  violence  and  displacement. 
These  conditions,  as  well  as  the  mode  of  distribution  of 
the  rubble  from  many  independent  centers,  accord  in 
all  points  with  the  results  that  would  ensue  from  the 
submergence  and  reelevation  of  a  land  surface  from 
beneath  deep  waters  after  a  temporary  submergence. 

"  These  conclusions,  startling  though  they  may  ap- 
pear, have  been  forced  upon  me,  not  only  by  my  own 
observations  in  the  South  of  England,  and  parts  of  the 
Continent,  but  also  by  the  independent  evidence  of 
other  geologists,  though  their  interpretation  of  the  facts 
may  be  different.  Looked  at  in  all  its  aspects,  I  see  no 
alternative  that  equally  well  answers  to  all  the  condi- 
tions of  the  problem.  Other  explanations  may  satisfy 
some  of  the  conditions  in  particular  cases,  but  none  of 
them  satisfy  all,  whereas  I  think  it  will  be  found  that 
the  submergence  hypothesis  not  only  meets  the  require- 
ments of  each  particular  case,  but  that  it  also  shows 
them  all  to  be  concordant,  and  such  as  would  pertain 
to  one  common  and  general  cause." 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  283 


CHAPTER  X. 

EVIDENCE  OF  A  DELUGE  IN  ASIA. 

The  summary  In  the  preceding  chapter  by  Professor 
Prestwlch  is  limited  to  the  facts  connected  with  West- 
ern Europe  and  the  Mediterranean  basin.  How  far 
this  subsidence  of  which  he  finds  evidence  may  have 
extended  in  a  more  northeasterly  direction  he  does  not 
venture  to  say,  because  of  the  lack  of  evidence. 

It  was  partly  to  supply  this  lack  that,  at  the  begm- 
ning  of  1900,  in  company  with  Mr.  Frederick  B. 
Wright,  I  set  out  on  a  zigzag  journey  across  Asia, 
through  China,  Mongolia,  Manchuria,  Siberia,  Turke- 
stan, Asia  Minor,  Trans-Caucasia,  Russia,  Syria,  Pales- 
tine, and  Egypt;  and  that  again,  in  1905,  with  the  same 
end  in  view,  I  visited,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Wright, 
England,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Southern  Russia,  the 
Crimea,  and  revisited  the  Lebanon  Mountains  and 
Northern  Egypt.^ 

The  first  expedition  was  undertaken  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  finding  in  Eastern  and  Northern  Asia  signs  of 
the  occupation  of  those  regions  by  glacial  ice  similar  to 
those  which  exist  so  abundantly  in  corresponding  lati- 


284  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

tudes  in  North  America.  But  in  this  we  were  disap- 
pointed. While  the  ice  of  the  Glacial  epoch  extended 
in  the  United  States  in  an  unbroken  sheet  to  the  latitude 
of  New  York  City,  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  to  the 
southern  part  of  Illinois,  in  latitude  38°,  in  the  Mississ- 
ippi Valley,  there  was  evidently  no  general  occupation 
of  Siberia  by  glacial  ice  south  of  the  fifty-sixth  degree 
of  latitude.  But  in  place  of  glacial  phenomena  we 
found  evidence  of  a  recent  depression  of  the  area, 
amounting  to  somewhere  from  two  thousand  to  three 
thousand  feet.  This  evidence  largely  consists  in  the 
distribution  of  loess  over  China,  Central  Asia,  and 
Southern  Russia.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  give  the 
facts  somewhat  in  detail. 

All  the  rivers  of  Northern  China  are  .densely  loaded 
with  sediment  derived  from  the  loess-covered  areas 
through  which  they  pass  in  the  upper  portion  of  their 
courses.  In  this  respect  they  much  resemble  the  Mis- 
souri. The  vast  plain  of  the  Hoangho,  in  Northeastern 
China,  consists  essentially  of  this  sediment,  which  has 
been  deposited  gradually  by  the  river.  The  river  in 
the  lower  part  of  its  course  now  occupies  a  channel 
raised  considerably  above  the  great  mass  of  the  plain, 
which  stretches  away  on  either  side.  It  is  owing  to 
this  position  of  the  river  that  periodical  floods  so  often 
devastate  the  interior,  and  that  the  mouth  of  the  Hoang- 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  285 

ho  is  subject  to  such  variation.  The  river  now  empties 
into  the  Gulf  of  Pechili,  about  150  miles  south  of 
Tientsin,  but  not  long  ago  it  wandered  over  the  south- 
ern plain  and  joined  the  Yangtsekiang  150  miles  above 
Shanghai,  400  miles  south  of  its  present  outlet.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  the  present  time,  during  extreme 
floods,  portions  of  the  water  turn  of¥  to  the  north,  near 
Kaifun,  and,  after  a  course  of  350  miles,  join  the 
Peiho  at  Tientsin.  Indeed,  this  most  fertile  portion 
of  the  Chinese  Empire  is  a  broad  delta  of  modified  loess 
deposited  by  the  Hoangho,  its  base  extending  from 
Tientsin  to  Shanghai,  a  distance  of  600  miles,  with  its 
apex  300  miles  inland. 

A  general  impression  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
denudation  of  the  loess  is  proceeding  may  be  formed 
by  noticing  the  extent  of  very  muddy  water  which 
borders  the  whole  Chinese  shore  of  the  Yellow  Sea. 
When  forty  miles  out  from  Shanghai,  the  traveler  en- 
counters a  sharply  cut  line,  which  can  be  distinctly 
seen  for  a  long  distance  in  either  direction,  separating 
the  clear  water  of  the  ocean  from  the  turbid,  opaque, 
silt-laden  water  brought  down  by  the  great  Chinese 
rivers.  It  is  thus  evident  that  deposition  of  loess  is 
now  taking  place  with  great  rapidity  all  along  the 
Chinese  side  of  the  Yellow  Sea. 

This  is  further  shown  by  the  extensive  shoals  and 


286  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

sand-banks  which  extend  from  Shanghai  nearly  to  the 
Shantung  peninsula.     They  mark  an  extension  of  the 
combined  delta  of  the  Hoangho  and  of  the  Yangtse- 
kiang,  as  the  former  has  from  time  to  time  turned  its 
flood  in  that  direction ;  but  the  historical  record  of  the 
growth  of  land  on  the  Gulf  of  Pechili  is  still  more  con- 
vincing of  the  activity  of  this  transporting  influence. 
Pao-to,  on  the  Peiho  River,  was  near  the  shore  200  B.C. 
It  is  now  forty  miles  inland.    During  the  Han  dynasty, 
Tientsin  was  a  seaport.     Now  it  is  thirty  miles  inland. 
As  late  as  500  a.d.,  the  sea  was  eighteen  miles  nearer 
Tientsin  that  it  is  at  the  present  time,  while  the  increas- 
ing difficulty  experienced  by  ships  in  approaching  the 
harbor  of  Taku,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Peiho,  is  confir- 
matory evidence  of  the  rapidity  of  this  sedimentation. 
The  records  show  that  all  along  the  shore  of  the  Gulf 
of   Pechili  the  land   for  the  last  two  thousand  years 
has  been  gaining  on  the  sea  at  the  rate  of  about  one 
hundred  feet  per  annum.    These  facts  need  to  be  borne 
in  mind  when  considering  the  date  of  the  period  of  the 
accumulation  of  the  loess  over  the  interior  region  pene- 
trated by  these  Chinese  rivers. 

LOESS  ON  THE  BORDER  OF  THE  PLAIN  OF  PEKING. 

Peking  is  situated   near  the  northeastern  extremity 
of  that  broad  belt  of  modified  loess  stretching  out  on 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  287 

either  side  from  the  Hoangho  which  we  have  been  de- 
scribing, and  is  about  thirty  miles  from  the  bordering 
mountains,  which  limit  the  plain  on  the  northwest,  and 
about  eighty  miles  inland  from  the  sea.  From  near  the 
border  of  the  mountains  to  the  sea  through  Peking  the 
slope  of  the  surface  is  pretty  uniform,  averaging  about 
six  feet  to  the  mile,  so  that  the  surface  of  the  loess  at 
the  entrance  to  the  pass  at  Nankau  is  about  six  hundred 
feet  above  tide.  The  slope  from  Peking  to  Nankau, 
however,  is  considerably  greater  that  it  is  on  the  other 
side  toward  the  sea.  Issuing  from  the  pass  at  Nankau, 
a  very  distinct  delta  extends  out  on  the  plain  for  a  dis- 
tance of  between  five  and  six  miles.  This  delta  consists 
of  a  rather  confused  intermingling  of  loess  with  sand, 
and  gravel,  and  occasional  fragments  of  rock  a  foot  or 
two  in  diameter.  This  coarser  material  occurs  near  the 
surface  as  much  as  four  miles  outside  the  mouth  of  the 
gorge,  the  surface  sloping  to  that  distance  in  a  direct 
line  at  the  rate  of  fifty  feet  a  mile,  making  two  hun- 
dred feet  in  the  first  four  miles;  but  on  the  southwest 
side  the  descent  is  abrupt,  leaving  a  long  low  plain 
several  miles  wide  between  the  delta  and  the  mountains 
in  that  direction. 

On  the  contrary,  on  the  northeastern  side  the  deposits 
of  loess,  at  nearly  the  same  level  with  the  head  of  the 
delta,   stretch   for  many  miles  along  the  base  of   the 


3 

a 


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o 

h-) 

O 
(4 

•4-1 

u 

Q 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  289 

mountains  toward  the  Ming  tombs.  In  many  places 
here  we  passed  between  perpendicular  sections  of  loess 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in  height.  They  were  especially 
prominent  in  the  vicinity  of  a  small  stream  coming 
down  from  the  mountains  about  half  way  between  Nan- 
kau  pass  and  the  Ming  tombs,  a  distance  of  about  ten 
miles;  but  the  larger  stream  coming  down  from  the 
mountains  into  the  amphitheater  around  which  the 
Ming  tombs  are  built  has  worn  a  broad  deep  channel 
in  the  sedimentary  deposits,  and  occupies  a  bed  fifty 
or  more  feet  below  the  general  level.  This  bed  is 
thickly  strewn  with  boulders  several  miles  away  from 
the  base  of  the  mountain.  The  portion  of  one  of  these 
boulders  projecting  out  of  the  ground  measured  9x6x3 
feet. 

From  the  situation  of  these  deposits,  it  is  clear  that 
they  sustain  a  definite  relation  to  the  comparatively 
small  streams  coming  down  into  the  plain  from  the 
mountains  to  the  northwest.  Of  these  the  Bishaho, 
which  comes  through  Nankau  pass,  is  the  largest.  Evi- 
dently, at  the  time  of  the  deposit  of  the  deltas,  water- 
level  was  met  at  the  base  of  the  mountains  at  the 
elevation  of  six  hundred  feet,  which  is  that  of  the  head 
of  the  delta  spreading  out  from  the  Nankau  pass.  It 
seems  also  clear  that,  at  the  time  of  the  main  deposition, 
the  material  to  which  the  stream  had  access  was  much 


c 
IS 


<u 

O 

(U 


D 
o 


o 

C4 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  291 

more  abundant  than  it  is  now,  for  at  the  present  time 
all  these  streams  are  rapidly  eroding  material  at  these 
higher  levels  and  transporting  it  to  lower  levels.  The 
Bishaho,  having  completely  abandoned  the  line  of  its 
old  delta,  now  turns  off  to  the  south,  to  meander  along 
the  low  plain  intervening  between  it  and  the  mountains 
in  that  direction  at  a  level  two  hundred  feet  lower  than 
its  former  bed. 

In  one  of  these  valleys,  near  the  Mongolian  escarp- 
ment, there  was  especially  clear  evidence  of  the  recent 
cessation  of  the  agencies  which  had  been  distributing  the 
loess  in  its  normal  quantities.  This  was  two  miles 
above  Hanchinbah,  in  the  first  stream  east  of  the  escarp- 
ment, running  southwest  between  mountain  ranges 
about  two  thousand  feet  higher  than  the  valley.  Here 
is  a  bluff  of  loess  about  forty  feet  in  height,  and  extend- 
ing back  from  the  stream  in  a  well-defined  terrace  for 
a  considerable  distance,  yet  it  was  exposed  to  the  direct 
force  of  the  stream  in  a  concave  bend  with  its  unpro- 
tected perpendicular  face  to  the  stream.  The  stream 
bore  every  mark  of  being  at  times  torrential,  its  bed 
being  full  of  large  boulders,  some  from  four  to  five  feet 
in  diameter,  all  in  slow  process  of  transportation  down 
the  stream.  The  gradient  of  the  stream  here  was  be- 
tween one  hundred  and  two  hundred  feet  per  mile. 
That  so  large  an  expanse  of  loess  should  have  been 


292  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

accumulated  to  such  an  extent  by  present  agencies,  or 
should  have  remained  in  this  unprotected  position  for 
many  thousand  years,  would  seem  extremely  improba- 
ble, not  to  say  impossible. 

WIND  AND   WATER   COMBINED  AS  DISTRIBUTING 

AGENCIES. 

Baron  Richthofen,  in  his  great  work  on  "  China," 
maintained  that  the  source  of  the  Chinese  loess  was  to 
be  found  in  the  desiccated  area  of  Central  Mongolia 
now  occupied  by  the  Desert  of  Gobi.  Here,  during 
long  ages,  the  superficial  rocks,  according  to  him,  have 
been  slowly  disintegrating  under  the  conditions  of  an 
exceedingly  dry  climate,  accompanied  with  great  alter- 
nations of  heat  and  cold,  while  the  wind  has  been  con- 
stantly transporting  it  in  clouds  of  dust  toward  the 
eastern  and  northeastern  borders,  where  it  has  been  de- 
tained in  excessive  quantity  in  the  moister  climate  of  the 
mountain  valleys  lying  east  of  the  Mongolian  escarp- 
ment. 

But  it  seems  necessary,  from  the  facts  above  present- 
ed, to  believe  that  its  present  distribution  over  North- 
eastern China  was  mainly  secured  by  the  agency  of 
gradually  receding  water,  the  presence  of  which  would 
be  obtained  by  a  temporary  general  depression  of  the 
land,  amounting  at  any  rate  to  several  hundred  feet. 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  293 

Over  much  of  the  space  bordering  on  Mongolia,  the 
loess  has  accumulated  in  level  areas  which  resemble 
lake-basins.  In  many  cases  these  are  without  outlet, 
and  contain  remnants  of  larger  bodies  of  water,  which 
are  now  drying  up,  leaving  well-marked  terraces  at 
elevations  of  considerable  height  around  the  rim.  In 
many  of  these  level  areas  of  loess  within  the  drainage 
basin  of  the  Yangho,  there  are  numerous  deep  narrow 
ravines,  with  branching  tributaries,  cut  to  a  depth  of 
one  hundred  feet  or  more  by  retrograding  erosion,  the 
loess  standing  in  perpendicular  faces  on  either  side. 
Pumpelly  describes  one  of  these  chasms  as  "  more  than 
seventy-five  feet  deep,  with  a  width  of  only  four  feet 
between  vertical  walls  of  loam,  and  winding  in  a 
a  crooked  course  for  more  than  a  mile."  In  many 
places,  especially  near  the  bordering  ledges  of  rock  and 
near  the  center  of  the  larger  valleys  occupied  by  the 
main  stream,  there  are  distinct  lines  of  coarse  gravel 
and  rocky  fragments  interstratified  with  the  loess.  This 
oftentimes  continues  for  a  long  distance  over  a  com- 
paratively level  area,  where  it  would  seem  impossible 
for  superficial  currents  from  local  cloudbursts  to  have 
produced  the  results. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  noticed  that  in  the  nar- 
rower valleys,  running  east  from  Kalgan  to  Shiwantse, 
between  the  lofty  border  of  the  Mongolian  plateau  and 


'•r- 


c 
IS 

«5 


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O 
1-1 

u 

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O 

K 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  295 

the  nearest  border  range,  there  were  numerous  and  ex- 
tensive  deposits   of   loess   that   had   been   very   clearly- 
drifted  in  by  the  wmA.    The  resemblance  of  these  de- 
posits to  immense  snowdrifts  accumulating  on  the  lee 
side  of  the  mountains  was  very  striking.     This  was 
especially  the  case  at  Shiwantse,  where  the  entire  village 
of  1,500  or  2,000  inhabitants  finds  shelter  in  commo- 
dious and  comfortable  houses  dug  into  the  hillside  of 
loess  which   flanks  the  eastern   face  of   the  mountain 
range.    These  houses  are  excavated  in  successive  reced- 
ing stories  one  above  the  other,  the  natural  roof  of  one 
house  serving  as  the  front  yard  of  the  house  above  it. 
These  dwellings  extend  for  three  hundred  feet  or  more 
up  the  slope  of  the  loess,  which  continues  upward  for  a 
considerably  greater  distance.     In  this  valley  we  saw 
many  such  villages,  and  in  crossing  the  mountain  from 
west  to  east  found  extensive  drifts  of  the  loess  up  to  a 
height  of  5,000  feet  above  the  sea.     But  the  greater 
accumulations  of  loess  were  below  a  level  of  3,000  or 
3,500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  in  many  cases,  even  on  the 
margins  of  the  larger  and  deeper  valleys,  were  spread 
out  in  such  extensive  and  level  areas  as  to  suggest  a 
terrace  deposit  near  the  margin  of  standing  water.     It 
became  increasingly  difficult  for  us  to  believe  that  wind 
could  have  distributed  the  material  with  such  an  even 


.5 
IS 
u 


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re  [si 


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^  2 


Evidence  of  a  Delude  in  Asia.  297 

surface  on  the  margin  of  such  well-marked  and  deep 
valleys  as  we  repeatedly  crossed.- 

But,  notwithstanding  the  lack  of  glacial  marks  in 
Eastern  Mongolia,  and  after  making  the  most  of  the 
wind  hj'pothesis  for  the  accumulation  of  the  loess  on  the 
Chinese  border,  the  way  is  still  open  to  maintain  that 
here,  as  elsewhere,  its  ultimate  origin  is  glacial.  For 
microscopical  examination  shows  that  the  particles  of 
loess  the  world  over  are  of  mechanical  origin,  closely 
corresponding  to  the  fine  sediment  which  is  held  in  sus- 
pension by  subglacial  streams,  which  is  the  result  of 
glacial  erosion.  Chemical  analysis  shows,  also,  that 
it  is  not  clay,  but  extremely  fine  sand,  the  particles  of 
which  average  only  one-two-hundredth-thousandth  of 
the  size  of  an  ordinary  grain  of  sand.  Still,  even  with 
this  small  size,  the  particles  of  loess  will  settle  in  water 
nine  times  as  quickly  as  the  particles  of  clay.^ 

The  general  distribution  of  loess  likewise  points  to 
its  glacial  origin.  In  the  United  States  it  is  practically 
limited  to  those  portions  of  the  Missouri  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  contiguous  to  the  glaciated  area  and  to 
the  lines  of  drainage  leading  from  it.  Indeed,  the 
largest  deposits  of  loess  in  the  Missouri  Valley  are 
definitely  referred  to  the  floods  accompanying  the  melt- 
ing of  the  lobe  of  glacial  ice  whose  border  extended  east 
and  west  midway  across  the  State  of  Iowa.     In  Europe 


298  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

the  great  deposits  of  loess  are  those  over  the  southern 
plains  of  Russia,  which  form  the  belt  of  black  earth  so 
productive  of  wheat  and  other  cereals.  These  Russian 
deposits  are  likewise  seen  to  have  a  definite  relation  to 
the  great  Scandinavian  glacier,  which  extended  as  far 
south  and  east  as  Kief  and  Penza,  In  Central  Europe 
the  smaller  deposits  of  loess  may  easily  have  been  de- 
rived from  the  Alpine  glaciers,  which  were  formerly 
much  more  extensive  than  now. 

So  confident  was  Professor  James  Geikie  of  the  gla- 
cial origin  of  the  extensive  loess  deposits  of  China,  that, 
in  the  third  edition  of  his  "  Great  Ice  Age,"  he  repre- 
sented upon  his  map  an  extensive  glaciated  region  on 
the  borders  of  Mongolia,  near  Kalgan.  My  own  per- 
sonal investigations  in  1900,  however,  revealed  a  total 
absence  of  the  marks  of  glaciation  over  that  area,  as 
well  as  over  that  of  the  Vitim  plateau  east  of  Lake 
Baikal,  which  he  had  covered  with  extinct  glaciers.  If, 
therefore,  the  loess  of  China  is  of  glacial  origin,  we 
must  look  to  some  more  distant  source. 

It  has  been  suggested  to  me  by  Dr.  N.  O.  Hoist,  of 
the  Swedish  Geological  Survey,  that  the  glacial  origin 
of  the  Chinese  loess  may  still  be  maintained  by  looking 
to  the  high  mountains  of  Central  Asia  for  its  source. 
As  is  well  known,  extensive  glaciers  are  found  in  all 
the  higher  altitudes  of  the  Himalaya  and  Tian  Shan 


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300  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

Mountains,  but  my  investigations  proved  that  these 
Asiatic  glaciers  never  extended  down  into  the  plains  to 
anything  like  the  extent  with  which  the  Alpine  glaciers 
invaded  Switzerland  and  Northern  Italy;  for,  in  a 
drive  of  eight  hundred  miles  along  the  northern  base 
of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains  at  an  elevation  of  about 
two  thousand  feet  above  sea-level,  no  moraines  what- 
ever were  encountered,  while,  two  years  later,  Professor 
William  M.  Davis  and  Mr.  Ellsworth  Huntington 
crossed  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains  from  Kalgan  to 
Verni,  and  found  likewise,  by  actual  observation,  that 
at  no  time  had  glaciers  extended  down  the  flanks  of 
these  mountains  below  the  level  of  seven  thousand  feet. 
Still,  loess  accumulated  to  an  immense  extent  about  the 
base  of  both  sides  of  the  range,  occurring  in  specially 
large  amount  wherever  the  streams  which  head  in  the 
glaciers  debouch  upon  the  plain. 

These  facts  open  the  way  to  regarding  the  loess  of 
China  as  having  its  ultimate  origin  in  the  mountains  of 
Central  Asia,  since  it  may  be  the  grist  which  the  glacial 
streams  from  these  high  mountains  had  originally 
brought  down  upon  the  borders  of  the  Gobi  Desert, 
thence  to  be  transported  by  the  prevailing  southwesterly 
winds  to  the  mountainous  eastern  border  of  the  great 
Mongolian  plateau.  Speaking  of  the  wind  as  a  trans- 
porting agency,  Pumpelly  remarks,  that 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  30 1 

"  no  one  can  realize  the  capacity  of  wind  as  a  trans- 
porter of  fine  material  who  has  not  lived  through  at 
least  one  great  storm  on  the  desert.  In  such  a  simoon 
the  atmosphere  is  filled  with  a  driving  mass  of  dust  and 
sand  which  hides  the  country  under  a  mantle  of  im- 
penetrable darkness  and  penetrates  -every  fabric ;  it  often 
destroys  life  by  suffocation  and  leaves  in  places  a  de- 
posit several  feet  deep.  .  .  .  The  often  cited  instance  of 
far  driven  volcanic  ashes  shows  the  ability  of  the  wind 
to  carry  comparatively  coarse  dust  through  distances  of 
several  hundred  miles,  but  it  does  not  seem  improbable 
that  the  finer  particles  may  remain  suspended  while  the 
wind  makes  a  complete  circuit  of  the  globe."  * 

In  my  own  experience  in  Eastern  Mongolia  I  frequently 
witnessed  whirling  columns  of  dust  rising  like  thunder- 
clouds from  the  earth,  and  moving  onward  to  deposit 
their  burdens  in  far-distant  places.  During  one  whole 
half-day,  when  approaching  Kalgan,  the  air  was  so  full 
of  dust  that  it  was  impossible  to  see  the  teams  that  were 
passing  on  the  other  side  of  the  road.  In  crossing  the 
mountains  west  of  Shiwantse,  as  already  remarked, 
this  dust  was  found  to  have  accumulated  on  the  lee 
side  in  drifts  which  rivaled  the  mountains  themselves  in 
size. 

One  can  therefore  easily  believe,  with  Baron  Rich- 
thofen,  that  the  loess  of  China  is  dust  which  has  been 
blown  in   from  the  arid  plains  of  Mongolia;  and  he 


302  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

may  also  believe,  with  Dr.  Hoist,  that  it  is  a  glacial 
grist  originally  brought  down  by  the  mountain  streams 
which  now  disappear  in  the  Desert  of  Gobi,  but  which 
formerly  deposited  their  burdens  upon  the  shores  of  the 
vast  sea  which  at  one  time  filled  that  inclosed  basin. 
Upon  the  drying-up  of  this  sea  at  the  close  of  the  Gla- 
cial epoch,  the  abundant  material  was  at  hand  to  be 
swept  along  by  the  winds,  and  account  for  the  relatively 
rapid  accumulation  of  loess  which  during  that  epoch 
evidently  took  place  in  the  mountainous  border  of  East- 
ern Mongolia  and  Northern  China.  At  the  present 
time  the  erosive  agencies  are  removing  these  deposits  of 
loess  in  the  mountains  much  more  rapidly  than  they 
are  accumulating,  and  are  distributing  it  upon  the  lower 
levels  of  China.  The  vast  plain  penetrated  by  the 
great  Chinese  canal  consists,  as  we  have  remarked,  of 
loess  brought  down  from  this  border  and  redistributed 
by  the  overflowing  Hoangho. 

The  correctness  of  this  theory  concerning  the  glacial 
origin  of  the  Chinese  loess  is  strongly  confirmed  by  the 
contrast  presented  by  those  regions  which  are  similarly 
related  to  the  Desert  of  Sahara,  Here  we  have  the 
same  vast  arid  region,  in  corresponding  latitudes,  swept 
by  prevailing  westerly  winds,  but  there  is  no  accumu- 
lation of  loess  in  Egypt  or  Arabia  or  in  the  mountains 
of  Syria.     There  is  plenty  of  sand,  but  evidently  there 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  303 

was  no  loess  for  the  wind  to  blow.  These  facts,  it 
would  seem,  would  effectually  negative  the  theory  of 
Richthofen,  and  some  others,  that  the  original  forma- 
tion of  loess  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  subaerial  disinte- 
gration of  rocks  in  arid  regions;  for  nothing  can  be 
more  arid  than  the  Desert  of  Sahara,  and  nowhere  is 
loess  so  conspicuously  absent  as  over  those  regions 
towards  which  the  winds  of  the  Sahara  blow. 

But,  whatever  doubts  might  be  raised  respecting  such 
a  recent  depression   of  land   as  we  have  supposed   in 
China,  they  cannot  well  exist  concerning  a  correspond- 
ing depression  on  the  other  side  of  the  great  Central 
Asiatic  plateau,  facing  Siberia  and  Turkestan.    At  the 
foot  of  the  lofty  Ala-tau  Mountains,  which  border  this 
plateau  on  the  northwest,   the   Russian   military   road 
runs  for  five  hundred  miles  along  a  terrace  of  loess, 
from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  feet  above  ocean- 
level,    whose    constitution    is    precisely    like    that    of 
Northern  China.     To  the  south  the  mountains  rise  in 
successive  peaks  to  a  height  of  from  fifteen  thousand  to 
twenty-three  thousand  feet;  while  to  the  north  a  rap- 
idly descending  plain  stretches  almost  without  a  break 
more  than  two  thousand  miles  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
To  one  who  travels  this  region  with  open  eyes,  there 
can  scarcely  be  any  question,  that,  at  a  comparatively 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  305 

recent  period,  these  waters  washed  the  shores  of  the 
Asiatic  plateau  at  an  elevation  of  between  two  thousand 
and  three  thousand  feet  above  present  sea-level.  On  the 
shores  of  this  great  inland  extension  of  the  Arctic  Sea 
are  the  sites  of  the  present  cities  of  Verni,  Pishpek, 
Chimkent,  Tashkent,  and  Samarkand, — cities  which 
now  occupy  the  very  center  of  the  Asiatic  continent. 
Lake  Balkash,  the  Aral  and  Caspian  seas,  with  innumer- 
able other  small  depressions,  are  in  the  desiccated  bed 
of  this  late  oceanic  bottom. 

Similar  extensive  deposits  of  loess  occur  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Araxes,  in  Armenia,  up  to  the  base  of  Mount 
Ararat,  and  characterize  other  valleys  in  Northern  Per- 
sia and  in  Transcaucasia. 

CORROBORATIVE   EVIDENCE, 

Among  the  most  interesting  corroborations  of  thiii 
theory  is  the  occurrence  of  Arctic  seal  in  the  waters  of 
Lake  Baikal  and  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  It  would  seem 
impossible  to  account  for  this  remarkable  distribution 
of  the  species  except  on  the  theory  that  the  whole  inter- 
vening space  had  been  recently  covered  with  salt  water, 
converting  Lake  Baikal  into  an  oceanic  bay.  Upon  the 
elevation  of  the  land  so  as  to  sever  the  connection  with 
the  sea,  this  lake  would  so  gradually  change  its  charac- 
ter from  salt  to  fresh  water,  that  the  species  of  seal  left 


3o6  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

in  it  could  become  adapted  to  fresh-water  conditions 
and  thus  remain  as  additional  evidence  of  the  recent 
geological  changes  of  level.  In  the  Caspian  Sea,  closely 
allied  species  of  seal  are  also  to  be  found.  But  nowhere 
else  do  they  occur  so  far  away  from  the  ocean.  The 
slightness  of  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  species  indicates  the  very  recent  date  of  the  geologic 
events  which  have  brought  about  the  wide  dispersion 
and  perfect  isolation  of  this  curious  animal. 

We  have  already  referred  to  another  class  of  facts 
pointing  to  the  recentness  of  the  great  geologic  changes 
in  this  region,  namely,  that,  contrary  to  the  general 
rule  respecting  lakes  and  seas  without  outlets,  Lake 
Balkash  and  the  Caspian  and  Aral  seas  are  less  salt 
than  the  ocean.  The  water  of  the  Caspian  Sea  is  only 
one-third  as  salt  as  the  ocean,  while  that  of  the  Aral 
Sea  is  so  fresh  that  animals  drink  it,  and  that  of  Lake 
Balkash  is  fresher  still.  This  points  to  a  very  recent 
period  when  the  outlets  ceased  to  carry  a  surplus  of 
water  into  the  ocean  sufficient  to  freshen  them.  Time 
enough  has  not  yet  elapsed  for  them  to  accumulate  salt 
equal  to  that  in  ocean  water,  much  less  to  that  in  such 
inclosed  basins  as  Great  Salt  Lake  and  the  Dead  Sea. 

Further  corroborative  evidence  is  found  in  a  study 
of  the  climatic  changes  of  Central  Asia — a  subject 
which  presents  one  of  the  most  complicated  and  difficult 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia-  307 

problems  with  which  science  has  to  do.  If  it  can  be 
shown  that  our  theory  of  a  recent  extensive  subsidence 
of  the  continent,  followed  by  a  subsequent  rapid  re- 
elevation,  will  solve  this  problem,  that  very  fact  will  go 
far  to  establish  its  truth. 

Briefly  stated,  the  facts  to  be  coordinated  are  as  fol- 
lows :  The  Aral  and  Caspian  seas  occupy  central  points 
of  an  Inclosed  basin,  covering  more  than  two  million 
square  miles,  which  has  no  present  connection  with  the 
ocean.  The  surface  of  the  Caspian  Sea  is  eighty-five 
feet  lower  than  that  of  the  Mediterranean,  while  its 
depth  is  more  than  two  thousand  feet.  So  slight  is  the 
elevation  of  the  land  between  the  Azov  and  Caspian 
seas,  that  a  depression  there  of  less  than  thirty  feet,  or  a 
rise  in  the  Caspian  of  a  little  more  than  one  hundred 
feet,  would  now  permit  their  waters  to  mingle  through 
the  long  marshy  lake  of  Manytch.  There  are  abundant 
evidences,  in  fossils  and  old  shore-lines,  that  these  seas 
were  connected  up  to  recent  times,  and  that  for  a  period 
there  was  an  overflow  of  w\iter  from  the  whole  Aral- 
Caspian  depression  into  the  Sea  of  Azov,  and  so  on 
into  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  the  Atlantic  basin. 

In  order  to  secure  this  overflow,  the  precipitation 
over  the  basin  must  be  greatly  increased,  or  the  evapora- 
tion diminished.  But  we  are  not  limited  to  the  Ural 
and  the  Volga  and  the  rivers  of  the  Caucasus  for  this 


3o8  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

formerly  increased  water  supply.  The  Aral  Sea,  which 
now  occupies  an  inclosed  basin  by  itself  within  the 
greater  inclosure,  formerly  overflowed  its  banks,  and 
poured  into  the  Caspian  a  volume  of  water  greater  than 
that  of  Niagara.  The  deserted  channel  of  this  old 
stream,  known  as  the  Uzboi,  is  easily  traceable.  Its 
length  is  about  five  hundred  miles,  and  so  distinct  is  the 
channel,  that  Russian  engineers  followed  it  a  few  years 
ago,  in  their  survey  for  a  canal  to  give  water  commu- 
nication between  the  two  seas.  The  only  diflficulty  with 
the  canal  project  was  the  lack  of  water  to  fill  it. 

The  level  of  the  Aral  Sea  is  maintained  by  the  two 
historic  rivers,  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes,  now  known  as 
the  Amu  Daria  and  the  Syr  Daria.  Both  these  rivers 
rise  in  the  high  mountains  of  Central  Asia,  and  through 
the  summer  are  abundantly  supplied  with  water  de- 
rived from  the  melting  of  the  snows  which  cover  the 
mountain  summits.  Each  of  these  rivers  has  now  about 
the  same  capacity  as  the  Niagara.  But  so  fierce  is  the 
evaporation  over  the  region  (where  there  is  an  annual 
rainfall  of  only  three  or  four  inches),  that  all  this  vast 
water  supply  is  returned  directly  to  the  clouds. 

Going  farther  east,  we  come  to  the  river  Chu,  which 
descends  in  great  volumes  from  the  Tian  Shan  Moun- 
tains, and  disappears  in  the  desert  before  reaching  the 
Aral  Sea.     Still  farther  east,  the  Hi  and  various  other 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  309 

smaller  rivers  come  down  from  the  same  mountam 
heights,  and  disappear  in  Lake  Balkash;  while  numer- 
ous other  shorter  streams  disappear  in  the  desert  long 
before  forming  a  junction  with  the  larger  bodies  of  wa- 
ter. Indeed,  the  whole  region  is  dotted  with  dried-up 
lake  beds,  where  a  saline  deposit  covers  the  whole  sur- 
face. 

Upon  reaching  the  Irtysh  River,  we  find  it  coming 
down  through  a  depression  between  the  Tian  Shan 
and  Altai  Mountains  about  two  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea,  leading  over  into  the  inclosed  basin  generally 
known  as  the  Desert  of  Gobi,  although  that  designa- 
tion properly  covers  only  the  eastern  part  of  the  area. 
The  western  part  is  occupied  by  the  basin  of  the  Tarim 
River,  ending  in  Lob  Nor.  This  basin  is  surrounded 
by  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains  on  the  north,  and  the 
mountains  of  Tibet  on  the  south,  many  of  their  peaks 
reaching  more  than  20,000  feet  above  sea-level.  We 
have  but  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  general  elevation 
of  the  basin,  but  we  know  that  Turfan,  at  about  its 
center,  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  below  sea-level; 
while  the  general  level  is  certainly  much  below  that  of 
the  Sungarian  depression,  which  at  that  point  forms 
the  watershed  between  it  and  the  plains  of  Northern 
.Siberia. 

Over  this  vast  interior  basin,  also,  as  over  that  of  the 


3IO  Evidence  of  a  Delude  in  Asia. 

Aral-Caspian  depression,  there  is  abundant  evidence  of 
its  former  occupation  by  water.  All  through  Tertiary 
times  this  sea,  far  greater  in  extent  than  the  Mediter- 
ranean, was  in  existence,  having  a  connection  with  the 
northern  ocean  through  the  Sungarian  depression,  as 
the  Mediterranean  has  with  the  Atlantic  through  the 
Strait  of  Gibraltar.  But  by  a  gradual  elevation  of  the 
land  the  sea  became  separated  from  the  ocean,  and 
through  excessive  evaporation  the  waters  gradually  dis- 
appeared, until  now  there  remain  only  a  few  insignifi- 
cant lakes,  fluctuating  in  size  with  every  changing 
season  of  the  year.  But  that  this  body  of  water  con- 
tinued in  considerable  dimensions  down  to  recent  times 
is  shown  by  the  references  to  it  by  Chinese  historians 
under  the  designation  of  Han  Hai.  There  is  likewise 
much  evidence  of  the  existence  of  flourishing  cities  in 
various  places  of  the  desert  where  now  a  water  supply 
is  out  of  the  question,  and  where  drifting  sands  cover 
ruins  of  considerable  magnitude."'  Dr.  Tschernyschev, 
Director  of  the  Russian  Geological  Survey,  informs  me, 
upon  the  basis  of  recent  personal  investigation,  that,  at 
levels  considerably  above  Kalgan,  there  are  great  de- 
posits of  loess  around  the  borders  of  this  old  sea,  which 
clearly  show  the  marks  of  deposition  in  water. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  former  limited  en- 
largement of  the  glaciers  in  the  Tian  Shan  and  other 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  311 

surrounding  mountains  in  Central  Asia.  At  first 
thought  it  might  seem  that  the  conditions  causing  this 
enlargement  of  the  glaciers  were  the  cause  of  the 
inland  sea  covering  the  Desert  of  Gobi,  for  the  en- 
largement of  the  glaciers  implies  either  an  increased 
precipitation  or  a  diminution  in  temperature  involving  a 
diminution  of  evaporation,  or  both.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  may  be  plausibly  urged  that  the  enlargement  of  the 
glaciers  is  the  effect  of  the  inland  sea,  rather  than  the 
cause ;  for  it  is  this  very  enlargement  of  the  inland  sea 
w^hich  would  provide  the  increased  evaporating  surface 
needed  to  supply  the  increased  precipitation  upon  the 
surrounding  mountains. 

Upon  following  out  this  theory  in  all  its  details,  it 
is  surprising  how  many  mysteries  it  unlocks.  Sup- 
posing a  general  subsidence  in  Central  Asia  such  as  to 
let  in  the  waters  of  the  sea  all  over  the  Aral-Caspian 
depression,  and  over  the  adjoining  plains  of  Siberia  up 
to  the  level  of  the  Sungarian  depression  in  the  line  of 
the  Irtysh  River,  and  of  Lake  Baikal  in  the  line  of  the 
Angara,  we  should  have  the  vast  interior  basin  of  the 
Gobi  Desert  filled  with  water  connected  with  the  ocean. 
The  existence  of  such  an  expanse  of  water,  as  already 
remarked,  readily  accounts  ( i )  for  the  anomalous  dis- 
persion of  Arctic  seal,  so  that  they  now  remain  denizens 


312  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

of  isolated  bodies  of  water  as  far  separated  from  the 
ocean  and  from  each  other  as  are  Lake  Baikal  and  the 
Aral  and  Caspian  seas ;  and  there  seems  no  other  expla- 
nation of  this  anomaly. 

(2)  The  presence  of  this  vast  expanse  of  water  in 
Central  Asia  would  likewise  readily  account,  as  we 
have  just  remarked,  for  the  increase  of  the  glaciers  in 
the  Altai  and  Tian  Shan  Mountains,  since  it  is  well 
known  that  increased  moisture  in  the  air  is  even  more 
essential  to  the  growth  of  glaciers  than  a  lowering  of 
the  temperature.  A  heavy  snowfall  is  one  of  the  most 
important  factors  in  the  production  of  a  glacial  epoch. 

(3)  But  it  is  in  its  relation  to  a  diminishing  rain- 
fall of  the  Aral-Caspian  basin  that  this  theory  furnishes 
the  most  important  key  to  a  complicated  problem.  In 
reflecting  upon  the  evidence  that  the  Aral  Sea  formerly 
overflowed  into  the  Caspian,  and  the  Caspian  into  the 
Sea  of  Azov,  one  cannot  fail  to  ask  how  it  came  to  be 
that  the  Amu  Daria  and  the  Syr  Daria,  the  two  great 
tributaries,  should  formerly  have  doubled  their  flow  of 
water,  and  then  gradually  diminished  to  the  present 
proportion.  Our  theory  solves  the  riddle.  Upon  the 
reelevation  of  the  continent,  so  that  the  waters  of  the 
invading  ocean  could  no  longer  penetrate  to  the  inland 
sea  through  the  Sungarian  depression,  the  desiccation 
of  that  region  began.     For  a  long  time  the  evaporation 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  3 13 

over  the  inland  sea  furnished  the  necessary  moisture  to 
keep  up  the  enlarged  flow  of  the  rivers  upon  the  north 
side  of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains.  But,  as  about  half 
of  the  water  precipitated  upon  these  mountains  would 
flow  off  into  the  Aral-Caspian  depression  and  the  Arctic 
basin,  and  only  one-half  flow  back  into  the  inland  sea, 
the  water  would  gradually  diminish,  and  in  diminish- 
ing would  deprive  the  rivers  upon  the  other  side  of  the 
mountains  of  their  normal  supply,  until  the  present 
inadequate  flow  was  reached. 

In  the  same  manner,  also,  we  may  account  for  the 
limited  glacier  that  formerly  came  down  from  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Lebanon  Mountains  into  the  head  of  the 
Kadisha  Valley,  and  built  up  the  moraine  upon  which 
the  surviving  grove  of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  is  now 
growing."  In  speaking  of  the  former  extension  of  the 
Dead  Sea  until  it  filled  the  whole  Jordan  Valley  to  a 
depth  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  and  probably  fourteen 
hundred,  feet,  reference  was  made  to  the  Glacial  epoch 
as  the  probably  cause  of  this  enlargement  of  these  in- 
land waters.  But,  as  the  only  signs  of  glaciation  in  the 
Lebanon-  Mountains  are  around  the  summit  level  which 
drains  into  the  Mediterranean,  the  two  things  can  be 
only  indirectly  related.  As  in  the  case  of  the  glaciers 
of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains,  may  it  not  be  quite  as 
likely  that  the  glaciers  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains  were 


314  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

caused  by  the  increased  evaporating  surface  of  the  body 
of  water  which  filled  the  Jordan  Valley  as  it  emerged 
from  the  general  depression  to  which  we  have  referred 
the  Deluge? 

Tradition  has  long  pointed  to  Central  Asia  as  the 
original  .home  of  mankind,  and  evidence  accumulates 
going  to  show  that  the  conditions  of  life  were  once  more 
favorable  in  that  region  than  they  are  at  the  present 
time.  Large  tracts  of  land  in  Central  Asia  are  now 
arid  and  barren  which  once  supported  a  dense  popula- 
tion, while  many  of  the  races  of  mankind  certainly 
migrated  from  that  region.  The  spread  of  the  Indo- 
European  or  Aryan  language  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
evidences  that  Central  Asia  was  the  original  home  of 
mankind.  These  languages  include  the  classic  and 
nearly  all  the  modern  languages  of  Europe  and  that 
of  Persia,  together  with  the  Sanscrit,  the  sacred  lan- 
guage of  India.  The  evidence  is  irresistible  that  before 
the  dispersion  of  the  people  speaking  these  languages 
they  dwelt  together  as  a  pastoral  people  in  the  high- 
lands on  the  southern  border  of  the  Aral-Caspian  de- 
pression. 

From  this  same  center  may  be  traced  in  successive 
waves  of  emigration  the  various  Tartar  races  which 
have  been  consolidated  into  the  great  empires  of  Eastern 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  315 

Asia,  and,  penetrating  into  the  more  inhospitable  re- 
gions of  the  north,  reached  Finland  upon  the  one  hand 
and  Bering  Strait  upon  the  other,  passing  thence  into 
America.  One  traveling  in  Central  Asia  even  now 
will  often  be  startled  by  the  resemblance  of  the  natives 
to  the  North  American  Indians. 

Surging  back  from  the  eastern  borders  of  Asia,  these 
restless  tribes  of  Tartars  have  repeatedly  overwhelmed 
their  original  home,  and  rolled  in  a  wave  of  conquest 
into  Europe,  where  the  Huns  have  left  their  perma- 
nent mark  upon  Western  civilization.  The  followers 
of  Jenghiz  Khan,  coming  from  Northeastern  Mongolia, 
swept  over  all  Central  and  Western  Asia,  and  were 
only  sta5^ed  in  their  destruction  by  fierce  battles  fought 
on  the  plains  of  Hungary  and  Poland.  At  the  time  of 
the  conquest  of  Jenghiz  Khan,  Merv  and  Samarkand 
and  Balkh  were  cities  rivaling  in  population  and  mag- 
nificence all  but  a  few  of  the  commercial  capitals  of 
modern  times. 

MORE    POSITIVE    EVIDENCE. 

But  the  most  definite  evidence  of  a  recent  consider- 
able depression  of  this  general  area  arrested  our  atten- 
tion in  1900  at  Trebizond,  on  the  south  shore  of  the 
Black  Sea.  Here,  at  an  elevation  of  six  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  sea,  there  is  an  extensive  deposit  of 


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Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  317 

beach  gravel  clinging  to  the  side  of  the  volcanic  mass 
of  rocks  at  whose  base  the  city  is  built.  The  appearance 
of  the  gravel  is  so  fresh  as  to  compel  a  belief  in  its  re- 
cent origin,  while  it  has  certainly  been  deposited  by  a 
body  of  water  standing  at  that  elevation  after  the  rock 
erosion  of  the  region  had  been  almost  entirely  effected. 
The  gravel  deposit  is  about  one  hundred  feet  thick,  and 
extends  along  the  precipitous  face  of  the  mountain  for 
a  half  mile  or  more.  Some  scattered  gravel  was  found 
at  a  height  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  But  the 
level  summit  of  the  mountain,  at  an  elevation  of  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  was  completely  free  from  it. 
Professor  Charles  R.  Keyes  writes  me  that,  in  his  ex- 
cursion with  the  Russian  geologists  during  the  interna- 
tional convention  of  1899,  he  observed  extensive  raised 
beaches  of  corresponding  height  at  Soudak,  on  the 
south  shore  of  the  Crimea,  nearly  opposite  to  Trebi- 
zond. 

It  needs  but  a  glance  at  a  map  of  the  region,  in  any 
physical  geography,  to  show  that  such  a  depression  as 
would  bring  the  south  shore  of  the  Black  Sea  down  to 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet  below  its  present  level 
would  produce  an  uninterrupted  sea  from  there  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  thus  covering  with  water  all  the  plains 
of  Southern  Russia  and  Northern  Siberia.  Now,  it  is 
in  just  this  submerged  area  of  Southern  Russia  that  we 


3i8  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

find  another  most  extensive  and  important  deposit  of 
loess  such  as  we  have  described  in  Northern  China,  and 
Turkestan.  This  is  known  and  generally  referred  to 
as  the  "  black  earth  "  of  Southern  Russia,  and  consti- 
tutes its  most  fertile  area.  As  to  the  origin  of  this,  the 
Russian  geologists  inform  us  that,  in  their  opinion,  as 
in  ours,  whatever  may  be  true  of  the  loess  deposits  in 
China,  not  wind,  but  water,  must  have  been  the  agency 
by  which  that  of  Russia  was  mainly  distributed.^ 

REMAINS    OF    ANTEDILUVIAN    MAN. 

This  brings  us  to  the  point  of  supreme  interest.  At 
Kief,  on  the  Dnieper,  one  of  the  largest  tributaries  of 
the  Black  Sea,  Professor  Armaschevsky  has  found  hu- 
man implements  and  burnt  stones,  in  connection  with 
the  bones  of  extinct  animals,  at  a  depth  of  fifty-three 
feet  below  the  undisturbed  surface  of  the  loess  which 
covers  the  region.  The  facts  he  has  fully  described  in 
a  pamphlet  prepared  for  the  World's  Geological  Con- 
gress which  met  in  Russia  in  1899.  The  professor  was 
so  good  as  to  conduct  us  over  the  field,  and  explain  the 
entire  situation  to  us.  If  there  had  been  any  doubts  in 
our  minds  as  to  the  significance  of  the  facts  before  this 
explanation,  there  could  be  none  after. 

This  was  at  an  elevation  of  three  hundred  feet  above 
the   Dnieper   River,   where   an   old   camping  place  of 


Bluff  of   Loess    at  Kief,   Russia. 
This  bluff  caps  a  glacial  deposit,  250  feet  above  the  Dnieper 
River.     The   human   remains  were   found    at  the   base  of  the 
loess,    51    feet    below    the    surface.       (Photograph    by    G.    F. 
Wright.) 


320  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

palaeolithic  man  rested  on  the  surface  of  a  glacial  de- 
posit containing  granitic  pebbles  from  Scandinavia,  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  distant. 

Other  evidence  of  a  recent  submergence  of  Northern 
and  Central  Asia  is  reported  by  J.  Stadling  ®  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Lena  River,  and  ten  miles  back  from  it, 
where  he  found,  six  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  "  in  a 
layer  of  soil  composed  of  turf  and  mud  mixed  vi^ith  sand, 
resting  on  a  foundation  of  solid  ice  as  clean  and  blue 
as  steel  and  of  unknown  depth,  large  quantities  of  drift- 
wood, evidently  brought  down  by  the  river  at  the  re- 
mote period  when  it  had  its  course  here."  Still  another 
instance  is  one  (which  I  have  elsewhere  described^) 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  Dariel  pass,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Caucasus  Mountains,  where  there  are  extensive 
fluviatile  deposits  of  such  character  as  to  indicate  a 
great  change  in  the  relative  level  of  the  gorge  in  cor- 
respondingly recent  times.  In  the  same  line  of  evidence 
is  the  report  of  Professor  John  J.  Stevenson  upon  re- 
cent changes  of  level  in  Spitzbergen.  The  facts  are, 
that  towards  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period  there  was 
clearly  a  rapid  elevation  of  the  land,  amounting  possibly 
to  four  thousand  feet,  which  was  followed  by  a  subsi- 
dence of  still  greater  extent;  while  now  the  land  is 
slowly  regaining  its  original  level.     Raised  terraces  and 


Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia.  321 

sandy  beaches  of  recent  origin  bear  witness  to  this  in 
many  places. ^° 

All  these  things  point  to  the  fact  that  in  those  world- 
wide movements  which  characterized  the  latter  part  of 
the  Tertiary  and  the  whole  of  the  Glacial  period,  there 
was  a  brief  subsidence  of  the  Asiatic  continent — Cen- 
tral Asia,  perhaps,  playing  see-saw  with  Northwestern 
Europe  and  Northeastern  America,  the  one  going  down 
while  the  other  went  up.  But,  however  that  might  be, 
at  some  stage  during  this  late  period  of  geological  insta- 
bility, a  general  depression  of  Central  Asia  must  have 
occurred  to  account  for  the  phenomena  we  have  pre- 
sented, distributing  the  loess  in  the  peculiar  manner 
indicated  and  filling  the  central  depression  of  Mon- 
golia with  an  interior  sea. 

It  is  beyond  legitimate  question,  therefore,  that,  since 
man  was  a  resident  in  Southern  Russia,  there  has  oc- 
curred the  great  subsidence  which  occasioned  the  wide- 
spread and  rapid  accumulation  of  loess  over  that  vast 
area  which  we  have  been  describing,  thus  bringing  the 
facts  in  Southern  Russia  and  Central  Asia  into  chrono- 
logical harmony  with  those  in  Western  Europe  and 
North  America,  where  the  remains  of  glacial  man  have 
been  known  to  exist.  Early  man  certainly  witnessed  in 
the  eastern  continent  changes  of  land-level  causing 
floods  on  a  scale  such  as  the  race  has  not  been  familiar 


322  Evidence  of  a  Deluge  in  Asia. 

with  for  several  thousand  j'ears.  Man  undoubtedly 
came  into  the  world  before  the  unstable  equilibrium 
accompanying  late  Tertiary  time  and  the  whole  course 
of  the  Glacial  epoch  had  given  place  to  the  compara- 
tive quiet  which  now  prevails. 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  323 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  DELUGE  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

For  a  long  time  the  public  has  been  familiar  with  the 
fact  that  the  Glacial  epoch  in  North  America  was  suc- 
ceeded by  an  extensive  depression  of  land  in  the  north- 
ern part,  permitting  water  to  overflow  a  large  area  in 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  continent  lying  north  of  the 
Canada  line.  From  the^prominence  of  the  facts  in  the 
Champlain  Valley,  Professor  James  D.  Dana  early 
gave  to  the  period  of  this  depression  the  name  of  the 
Champlain  epoch.  Abundant  sea-shells  are  found,  at 
various  elevations  in  the  Champlain  Valley,  superim- 
posed upon  the  ordinary  glacial  deposits.  The  skeleton 
of  a  whale  was  found,  many  years  ago,  in  the  Champlain 
clays  of  Vermont,  at  an  elevation  of  three  hundred  or 
four  hundred  feet  above  the  sea ;  while  shore-lines  of 
this  arm  of  the  ocean  are  clearly  traceable  upon  both 
the  Adirondack  and  the  Green  Mountains,  which  form 
borders  upon  the  opposite  sides  of  the  valley.  Near  the 
Canada  line,  and  at  Montreal,  these  post-glacial  sea- 
beaches,  with  their  accompanying  sea-shells,  occur  to  a 
height  of  six  hundred  feet;  while,  at  Arnprior,  far  up 


324  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

the  Ottawa  River,  at  an  equal  elevation,  the  skeleton 
of  a  whale  has  been  found  in  post-glacial  clay  deposits. 
Evidently,  therefore,  at  the  melting-off  of  the  glacier 
from  Eastern  North  America,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
extended  so  as  to  make  a  continuous  sheet  of  water  from 
the  ocean  to  the  Great  Lakes.  Going  farther  north. 
this  depression  of  land  increased  in  extent,  amounting 
to  one  thousand  feet  or  more  in  the  region  northeast  of 
Hudson  Bay.  So  far  the  facts  correspond  somewhat 
closely  with  those  we  have  presented  pertaining  to  the 
post-glacial  depressions  of  land-levels  in  Europe  and 
Asia. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  facts,  of  extreme  interest, 
dependent  upon  the  physical  geography  of  the  country, 
which,  if  they  do  not  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  our 
subject,  do  have  a  very  important  indirect  bearing  upon 
it.  We  refer  to  the  remarkable  series  of  temporary 
lakes  which  were  formed  along  the  southern  edge  of 
the  ice  as  its  front  slowly  receded  from  its  extreme 
southerly  extension.^  At  the  climax  of  the  Glacial 
epoch  in  North  America,  the  continental  glacier  ex- 
tended to  an  irregular  line  drawn  along  the  southern 
coast  of  New  England,  passing  just  south  of  New 
York  City,  and  in  irregular  course  through  New  Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  until,  at  Cincinnati,  it 
crossed    the    Ohio    River   into    Kentucky,    and    thence 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  325 

passed  westward  with  various  irregularities  until  it 
reached  its  most  southern  point,  at  Carbondale,  111.,  in 
about  latitude  38°.  Thence,  passing  northwesterly,  it 
crossed  the  Mississippi  River  for  a  little  at  St.  Louis, 
but  followed  closely  the  northern  shore  of  the  river  for 
more  than  half  the  distance  across  the  State  of  Missouri. 
Crossing  it,  however,  for  a  little  distance  below  the 
sharp  angle  made  by  the  river  at  Kansas  City,  it  follows 
the  Kansas  River  as  far  west  as  Topeka,  whence  it 
turns  northward,  and,  bearing  a  little  to  the  west, 
reaches  the  Canadian  line  in  IVIontana,  and  there  joins 
the  boundary  of  the  Cordilleran  lobe  of  ice,  which  came 
down  the  border  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  A  glance  at  the 
accompanying  map,  in  which  the  various  stages  of  the 
glacier  are  shown  by  dotted  lines,  will  reveal  the  facts 
better  than  any  amount  of  verbal  description.  It  will 
be  in  place,  however,  briefly  to  outline  the  several  gla- 
cial lakes  which  attended  this  recession,  and  which  have 
been  variously  named  as  the  facts  have  come  to  light. 
I.  Lake  Ohio. — This  was  formed  by  the  damming 
of  the  Ohio  River  at  Cincinnati,  when  the  front  of  the 
glacier  crossed  over  into  Kentucky.  During  a  short 
time  this  obstruction  to  the  channel  existed  through  a 
length  of  nearly  one  hundred  miles.  Such  an  obstruc- 
tion would  pond  up  the  water  in  the  valley  above  to  a 
depth  of  five  hundred  feet,  flooding  an  area  of  nearly 


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The  Deluge  in  North  America.  327 

twenty  thousand  square  miles,  and  producing  a  depth 
of  water  over  Pittsburgh  of  nearly  three  hundred  feet. 
Professor  E.  W.  Claypole,  in  an  article  read  before  the 
Geological  Society  of  Edinburgh  and  published  in  their 
"  Transactions,"  has  given  a  very  vivid  description  of 
the  vicissitudes  of  this  remarkable  body  of  water: — 

"  The  Ohio  of  to-day  in  flood  is  a  terrible  danger  to 
the  valley,  but  the  Ohio  then  must  have  been  a  much 
more  formidable  river  to  the  dwellers  on  its  banks.  The 
muddy  waters  rolled  along,  fed  by  innumerable  rills  of 
glacier-milk,  and  often  charged  with  ice  and  stones.  The 
first  warm  days  of  spring  were  the  harbinger  of  the 
coming  flood,  which  grew  swifter  and  deeper  as  summer 
came,  and  only  subsided  as  the  falling  temperature  of 
autumn  again  locked  up  with  frost  the  glacier  fountains. 
.  .  .  The  ancient  Ohio  River  system  was  in  its  higher 
part  a  multitude  of  glacial  torrents  rushing  off  the  ice- 
sheet,  carrying  all  before  them,  waxing  strong  beneath 
the  rising  sun,  till  in  the  afternoon  the  roar  of  the 
waters  and  their  stony  burden  reached  its  maximum, 
and,  as  the  sun  slowly  sank,  again  diminished,  and 
gradually  died  away  during  the  night,  reaching  its 
minimum   at  sunrise.   .   .   . 

"  But,  with  the  steady  amelioration  of  the  climate, 
more  violent  and  sudden  floods  ensued.  The  increasing 
heat  of  summer  compelled  the  retreat  of  the  ice  from 
the  Kentucky  shore,  where  Covington  and  Newport 
now  lie,  and  so  lowered  its  surface  that  it  fell  below  the 
previous  outflow-point.     The  waters  then   took  their 


328  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

course  over  the  dam,  instead  of  passing,  as  formerly, 
up  the  Licking  and  down  the  Kentucky  River  Valley. 
The  spectacle  of  a  great  ice-cascade,  or  of  long  ice- 
rapids,  was  then  exhibited  at  Cincinnati.  This  cataract, 
or  these  rapids,  must  have  been  several  hundred  feet 
high.  Down  these  cliffs  or  this  slope  the  water  dashed, 
melting  its  own  channel,  and  breaking  up  the  founda- 
tions of  its  own  dam.  With  the  depression  of  the  dam 
the  level  of  the  lake  also  fell.  Possibly  the  change  was 
gradual,  and  the  dam  and  the  lake  went  gently  down 
together.  Possibly,  but  not  probably,  this  was  the  case. 
Far  more  likely  is  it  that  the  melting,  was  rapid,  and 
that  it  sapped  the  strength  of  the  dam  faster  than  it 
lowered  the  w^ater.  This  will  be  more  probable  if  we 
consider  the  immense  area  to  be  drained.  The  catastro- 
phe was  then  inevitable — the  dam  broke,  and  all  the 
accumulated  water  of  Lake  Ohio  was  poured  through 
the  gap.  Days  or  even  weeks  must  have  passed  before 
it  was  all  gone;  but  at  last  its  bed  was  dry.  The  upper 
Ohio  Valley  was  free  from  water,  and  Lake  Ohio  had 
passed  away.  .  .  . 

"  But  the  whole  tale  is  not  yet  told.  Not  once  only 
did  these  tremendous  floods  occur.  In  the  ensuing  winter 
the  dam  was  repaired  by  the  advancing  ice,  relieved 
from  the  melting  effects  of  the  sun  and  of  the  floods. 
Year  after  year  was  this  conflict  repeated.  How  often 
we  cannot  tell.  But  there  came  at  last  a  summer  when 
the  Cincinnati  dam  was  broken  for  the  last  time ;  when 
the  winter  with  its  snow  and  ice  failed  to  renew  It, 
when   the   channel    remained    permanently   clear,    and 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  329 

Lake  Ohio  had  disappeared  forever  from  the  geography 
of  North  America.    .    .    . 

"How  many  years  or  ages  this  conflict  between  the 
lake  and  the  dam  continued  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
say,  but  the  quantity  of  wreckage  found  in  the  valley  of 
the  lower  Ohio,  and  even  in  that  of  the  Mississippi, 
below  their  point  of  junction,  is  sufficient  to  convince 
us  that  it  was  no  short  time.  '  The  age  of  Great 
Floods  '  formed  a  striking  episode  in  the  story  of  the 
'  Retreat  of  the  Ice.'  Long  afterward  must  the  valley 
have  borne  the  marks  of  these  disastrous  torrents,  far 
surpassing  in  intensity  anything  now  known  on  the 
earth.  The  great  flood  of  1885,  when  the  ice-laden 
water  slowly  rose  seventy-three  feet  above  low-water 
mark,  will  long  be  remembered  by  Cincinnati  and  her 
inhabitants.  But  that  flood,  terrible  as  it  was,  sinks  into 
insignificance  beside  the  furious  torrent  caused  by  the 
sudden,  even  though  partial,  breach  of  an  ice-dam  hun- 
dreds of  feet  in  height,  and  the  discharge  of  a  body  of 
water  held  behind  it,  and  forming  a  lake  of  twenty 
thousand  square  miles  in  extent. 

"  To  the  human  dwellers  in  the  Ohio  Valley — for 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  valley  was  in  that  day 
tenanted  by  man — these  floods  must  have  proved  dis- 
astrous in  the  extreme.  It  is  scarcely  likely  that  they 
were  often  forecast.  The  whole  population  of  the  bot- 
tom lands  must  have  been  repeatedly  swept  away;  and 
it  is  far  from  being  unlikely  that  in  these  and  other 
similar  catastrophes  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
which  characterized  certain  stages  in  the  glacial  era. 


330  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

will  be  found  the  far-off  basis  on  which  rest  those  tra- 
ditions of  a  flood  that  are  found  among  almost  all 
savage  nations,  especially  in  the  north  temperate  zone." 

2.  Lake  IVarren. — This  is  named  from  its  discover- 
er, General  Warren,  of  the  United  States  Army.  When 
the  ice-front  had  retreated  beyond  the  watershed  be- 
tween the  basins  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence, there  began  to  be  an  accumulation  of  water  along 
its  margin,  w^hich  gradually  enlarged  until  it  covered 
the  whole  area  now  occupied  by  the  valleys  of  Lake 
Erie,  Lake  Ontario,  and  Lake  Huron,  the  outlet  being, 
first,  at  Fort  Wayne,  into  the  Wabash  River,  at  an 
elevation  of  two  hundred  feet  above  Lake  Erie  (775 
above  the  sea),  and  later,  as  the  ice  melted  off  from 
the  lower  peninsula  of  Michigan,  through  a  passage 
leading  from  Saginaw  Bay  through  Grand  River  into 
a  body  of  water  that  was  formed  in  a  similar  manner, 
covering  the  southern  part  of  Lake  Michigan.  This 
outlet  was  one  hundred  feet  lower  than  the  one  at  Fort 
Wayne.  Thence  the  mighty  torrent  poured  along  the 
line  of  the  present  drainage  canal,  a  few  feet  above  the 
level  of  Chicago,  into  the  Illinois  River,  and  onward 
into  the  Mississippi.  The  receding  shore-lines  of  this 
vast  body  of  water  are  clearly  traceable  all  around 
the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  and  up  to  Saginaw 
Bay,  in  Lake  Michigan;  while  the  deserted  channels 


The  Deluge  in  North  Ajnerica.  331 

at  Fort  Wayne,  and  through  the  Grand  River  Valley, 
and  along  the  line  of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  are 
as  clearly  marked  as  those  of  any  existing  river. 

3.  Lake  Algonquin. — This  is  the  name  given  to 
the  body  of  water  in  front  of  the  retreating  ice  whose 
level  was  determined  by  that  of  the  pass  from  the  Lake 
Ontario  basin  into  the  Mohawk  River  at  Rome,  N.  Y. 
For  a  long  while  the  mighty  current  swept  through  the 
Mohawk  Valley  into  the  Hudson,  leaving  its  traces  in 
extensive  gravel  terraces  clearly  discernible  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  feet  above  the  present  river.  As  the 
retreat  of  the  ice  proceeded,  this  body  found  an  outlet, 
at  a  lower  level,  around  the  eastern  base  of  the  Adiron- 
dack Mountains,  through  the  Champlain  Valley.  At 
Chazy,  N.  Y.,  immense  windrows  of  water-worn  peb- 
bles and  boulders  can  be  traced  where  this  stream 
passed  through  a  depression  between  the  melting  lobe 
of  ice  on  one  side  and  the  mountain  on  the  other. 
Eventually  this  lake  merged  into  the  gulf  which,  as 
already  said,  extended  up  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley  at 
the  time  of  the  Champlain  depression,  when  whales 
sported  in  those  inland  waters. 

4.  Lake  Agassiz. — Passing  over  innumerable  minor 
details,  we  will  limit  ourselves  to  a  brief  statement  of 
the  facts  concerning  the  vast  accumulation  of  water 
which  formed  in  front  of  the  retreating  glacier  in  the 


332  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

valley  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  to  which,  very 
appropriately,  has  been  given  the  name  of  Lake  Agas- 
siz.  Here,  so  long  as  the  ice  remained  to  obstruct  the 
drainage  that  naturally  flowed  into  Hudson  Bay,  the 
water  rose  to  the  level  of  the  pass  from  the  Red  River 
Valley  into  the  Minnesota  through  Grand  Traverse 
and  Big  Stone  lakes.  These  lakes,  each  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  long  and  about  a  mile  in  width,  are  upon 
the  same  level  with  each  other,  and  occupy  minor  de- 
pressions in  what  was  the  outlet  of  the  immense  glacial 
lake.  At  its  culmination,  before  the  ice-barrier  to  the 
north  eventually  broke  away,  Lake  Agassiz  covered  an 
area  of  one  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  including 
what  are  now  the  most  fertile  portions  of  Minnesota, 
Dakota,  and  Manitoba.  It  has  left  a  precious  legacy 
to  mankind  in  the  vast  alluvial  deposits  over  its  bot- 
tom, which  now  furnish  the  most  important  wheat- 
fields  in  the  world. 

5.  Lake  Bonneville. — This  was  in  Utah,  and  is 
named  for  Captain  Bonneville,  the  intrepid  original  ex- 
plorer of  the  region.  Its  modern  representative,  Great 
Salt  Lake,  has  an  area  of  only  about  two  thousand 
square  miles,  with  a  depth  of  about  twenty  or  thirty 
feet.  But  during  the  Glacial  epoch,  when  the  precipi- 
tation was  greater  and  the  evaporation  less  than  now, 
the  waters  increased  to  a  depth  of  one  thousand  feet, 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  333 

and  covered  an  area  of  twent}'^  thousand  square  miles. 
When  the  water  had  attained  this  depth,  it  began  to 
overflow  through  the  Port  Neuf  River  into  the  Snake 
River  Valley,  leading  into  the  Columbia  River  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  But  at  the  point  of  overflow  there  was 
an  accumulation  of  unconsolidated  earthy  debris  to  a 
depth  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet.  This 
obstruction  rapidly  wore  away,  and  the  whole  body  of 
water  down  to  that  level  rushed  in  an  impetuous  tor- 
rent into  the  valley  of  Snake  River. 

Dr.  G.  K.  Gilbert  has  given  a  vivid  description  of 
this  in  his  monograph  upon  Lake  Bonneville  published 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey;  while  I  have, 
in  "  Man  and  the  Glacial  Period,"  detailed  some  of 
the  more  specific  results  of  the  gigantic  flood  as  it 
poured  down  into  the  Snake  River  Valley.  Dr.  Gil- 
bert estimates  that  it  would  require  twenty-five  years 
for  a  stream  as  large  as  Niagara  to  lower  the  level  of 
Lake  Bonneville  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet. 
When  one  sees  the  diminutive  rivulet  now  known  as 
the  Port  Neuf,  the  imagination  is  utterly  balked  in  its 
efforts  to  picture  a  Niagara  flowing  through  it.  But 
that  such  was  the  case  is  proved  beyond  controversy 
by  the  dry  light  of  science. 

The  subsequent  history  of  Lake  Bonneville  bears 
evidence,  that,  owing  to  the  desiccation  which  followed 


334  T^he  Deluge  in  North  America, 

the  Glacial  epoch  both  in  the  eastern  and  western  con- 
tinents, and  to  which  we  have  already  made  frequent 
reference,  gradually  all  the  remaining  body  of  water,  to 
a  depth  of  more  than  six  hundred  feet,  has  evaporated 
from  the  basin.  Its  deserted  shore-lines,  like  railroad 
embankments,  surround  the  valley  and  the  mountains 
projecting  from  the  basin,  and  form  conspicuous  ob- 
jects in  the  landscape. 

6.  Lake  Lahontan. — To  the  west  of  the  Lake 
Bonneville  basin  a  body  of  water  of  about  equal  size 
accumulated  during  the  Glacial  epoch,  but  never  rose 
high  enough  to  overflow.  This  is  named  Lake  Lahon- 
tan, after  another  early  explorer  of  this  region,  and  has 
been  fully  described,  in  a  monograph  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  by  the  late  Professor  Israel 
C.  Russell.  But  it  is  not  important  here  to  go  into 
details. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  recently  dis- 
covered evidences  of  the  vast  extent  of  glacial  floods  is 
that  which  was  brought  to  light  in  1903  respecting  those 
of  the  Missouri  River  Valley.  The  facts  are  so  striking 
and  pertinent,  as  w^ell  as  new,  that  it  w^ll  be  profit- 
able to  detail  them  at  some  length.  In  tracing  the 
boundary  of  the  glaciated  region  of  the  United  States 
twenty  years  or  more  ago,  it  was  discovered  that  west 


The  Deluge  in  North  America. 


335 


of  the  Mississippi  River  the  continental  glacier  did  not 
cross  the  Missouri  River  below  Jefferson  City.  The 
testimony  of  the  various  geologists  who  had  surveyed 
the  region  was  very  uniform  upon  this  point.  But  in 
1902  Dr.  Ball,  who  was  employed  by  the  State  to  make 
a  geological  survey  of   Miller  County,    reported   that 


Cross-section  of  the  Osage  Trough  at  Tuscumbia,  with  a 
Canadian  Boulder. 


several  large  Canadian  boulders  were  to  be  found  at 
Tuscumbia,  in  the  trough  of  the  Osage  River,  about 
sixty  miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Missouri,  and 
fully  forty  miles  south  of  the  extreme  limit  reached 
by  the  continental  glacier.  Here  was  presented  a 
problem  of  the  greatest  perplexity  and  interest,  so  that 
it  was  worth  while  for  me  to  devote  the  summer  of 
1903  to  its  solution. 

To  account  for  these  boulders,  there  were  four,  and 
only  four,  suppositions  possible. 

I.     That  there  were  outcrops  of  similar  granite  in 


^^6  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

the  vicinity,  so  that  the  river  floods  could  have  brought 
the  boulders  into  the  places  where  they  were  found. 
But  this  was  negatived  by  the  unanimous  testimony  of 
the  geologists  who  had  carefully  surveyed  the  region, 
that  there  are  no  outcrops  of  such  granite  in  the  State. 
Moreover,  Dr.  Robert  Bell,  Director  of  the  Canadian 
Survey,  at  once  recognized  the  specimens  as  from  Can- 
ada, which  is  several  hundred  miles  away. 

2.  It  might  be  supposed  that  there  had  been  an 
error  in  previous  observations  on  the  limit  of  the  gla- 
ciated area.  The  border  south  of  the  Missouri  River 
was  therefore  resurveyed,  with  results  conforming  to 
those  that  had  been  previously  obtained.  There  were 
no  signs  of  an  invasion  of  the  continental  glacier  south 
of  the  river  below  Jefferson  City. 
,3.  It  might  be  supposed  that  glacial  ice  had  crossed 
the  watershed  between  the  Kansas  River  and  the  head- 
waters of  the  Osage  River  below  Topeka,  Kansas, 
where  it  was  known  to  have  reached  the  vicinity  dur- 
ing its  greatest  extension.  Under  this  theory,  floating 
ice  might  have  carried  the  boulders  down  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  Osage  River  and,  becoming  stranded  there, 
left  them  where  they  were  found.  But  this  theory  was 
negatived  by  a  resurvey  of  this  region,  which  confirmed 
all  previous  observations  that  the  Kansas  River  marked 
the  southern  limit  of  the  glaciated  region  in  Kansas. 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  337 

4.  The  only  supposition  remaining  was,  that,  dur- 
ing high  glacial  floods  in  the  Missouri  River  when  there 
were  no  corresponding  ones  in  the  Osage,  back-water 
had  carried  small  boulder-bearing  icebergs  from  the 
Missouri  sixty  miles  up  the  Osage,  where  they  had  been 
stranded,  and,  on  melting,  left  the  boulders  as  indubi- 
table witnesses  of  a  most  startling  geological  episode. 
From  the  height  at  which  the  boulders  at  Tuscumbia 
were  lying,  it  was  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  Mis- 
souri River  was  at  that  time  subject  to  floods  which 
rose  two  hundred  feet,  while  the  Osage  had  none  to 
correspond.  If  such  a  condition  of  things  could  be  rea- 
sonably, or  even  possibly,  supposed,  it  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  the  phenomena ;  while,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  any  competing  theory,  this  must  be  accepted 
as  proved  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  rise  in  the  main  stream 
without  a  corresponding  rise  in  the  tributary  causes  a 
current  to  set  back  up  the  tributary,  and  so  carry  debris 
up  stream.  A  case  near  my  ancestral  home  had  early 
attracted  my  attention.  Poultney  River,  in  Vermont, 
which  comes  into  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  was  ar 
one  time  visited  by  a  series  of  terrific  thunder-showers, 
while  one  of  its  tributaries,  Hubbardston  Creek,  was 
out  of  their  reach.  As  a  consequence,  the  main  stream 
rose  thirty  or  forty  feet,  and  set  up  the  creek  with  such 


338  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

force  that  it  carried  a  mill-dam  up  stream.  Instances 
of  this  sort  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely. 

From  the  melting  of  snow  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
the  Columbia  River,  in  Oregon,  often  rises  thirty  or 
forty  feet  when  its  southern  tributary,  the  Willamette, 
has  reached  its  period  of  low  water.  At  such  times 
a  current  sets  up  the  tributary,  carrying  driftwood 
past  Portland,  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  the  Columbia. 
Similar  phenomena  are  regularly  witnessed  in  some  of 
the  tributaries  of  the  Danube. 

In  the  present  case,  there  was,  at  the  close  of  the 
Glacial  epoch,  a  unique  condition  of  things  in  the 
lower  Missouri  Valley.  A  glance  at  a  glacial  map  of 
the  region  will  show  that  about  250,000  square  miles 
of  the  glaciated  region  would  drain  its  surplus  water 
into  the  trough  of  the  middle  Missouri.  On  a  moder- 
ate calculation,  the  melting  of  the  ice  over  this  area 
towards  the  close  of  the  period  may  have  proceeded  at 
the  rate  of  ten  feet  per  annum.  This  would  furnish 
five  hundred  cubic  miles  of  water  for  the  lower  Mis- 
souri River  to  handle  each  year  between  xA.pril  and 
November;  whereas  now  its  total  annual  flow,  as 
determined  by  the  United  States  engineers,  is  only 
twenty-eight  cubic  miles ;  and  yet,  whh  that  small 
amount,  floods  often  rise  to  a  height  of  thirty-six  feet 
above  low  water.    That  there  was,  for  a  period  of  con- 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  339 

siderable  length,  a  supply  of  five  hundred  cubic  miles  of 
water  to  the  Missouri  to  be  carried  off  during  the  sum- 
mer and  autumn  months  is  a  most  reasonable  supposi- 
tion, supported  by  a  large  number  of  well-known  facts. 
It  is  equally  clear  that,  at  this  time,  there  were  no 
causes  to  supply  a  corresponding  rise  of  the  Osage, 
since  it  lies  wholly  outside  the  glaciated  region,  and  had 
no  ice  over  its  basin  to  be  melted,  and  thus  augment 
its  volume. 

On  proceeding  to  work  out  the  problem  of  the  be- 
havior of  this  vast  body  of  water  poured  into  the  mid- 
dle Missouri,  it  was  first  observed  that  it  all  had  to  pass 
through  a  narrow  place  in  the  trough  at  Hermon, 
twenty-five  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Osage.  Here 
the  width  of  the  trough  between  the  rocky  precipices, 
three  hundred  feet  high  on  either  side,  is  barely  two 
miles.  Mathematical  calculations  will  show  that  it 
would  require  ninety-six  days  for  a  current  two  miles 
wide  and  two  hundred  feet  deep,  flowing  three  miles  an 
hour,  to  carry  off  five  hundred  cubic  miles  of  water. 
But  as  the  supply  of  water  would  be  in  gradually  in- 
creasing amount  up  to  a  little  past  mid-summer,  and 
then  as  gradually  decreasing,  the  average  depth  would 
be  only  half  that,  with  a  short  period  of  extreme  height. 
It  would  therefore  require  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 


/ffYni  1 


:>'>"-v;^ 


«   f,/ 


■■".■',"'? 

^=^"^^^i?  ■■'■;■■  ^^-vi^i 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  341 

days  to  reduce  the  level  to  normal  conditions,  leavinj^ 
scarcely  any  flow  during  the  winter  months. 

In  order  to  secure  this  moderate  rate  of  three  miles 
an  hour,  we  must  suppose,  however,  that  the  gradient 
of  the  stream  was  then  considerably  less  than  that  of 
the  Missouri  at  the  present  time.  But  this  supposition 
is  most  reasonable,  in  view  of  well-known  facts.  For, 
as  already  shown,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that, 
toward  the  close  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  there  was  a 
depression  of  land  over  nearly  all  the  glaciated  area,  and 
that  this  depression  increased  toward  the  north.  At 
Montreal  we  know  the  land  was  six  hundred  feet  lower 
at  the  close  of  the  Glacial  epoch  than  it  is  now.  There 
is  corresponding  evidence  of  such  a  northerly  depression 
around  the  Great  Lakes  and  in  Manitoba  and  Northern 
Minnesota.  That  this  included,  in  diminishing  degree, 
the  whole  glaciated  area  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
State  of  Missouri,  is  in  accordance  with  the  whole  anal- 
ogy of  the  downward  movement  of  the  crust  of  the 
earth  which  accompanied,  and  perhaps  was  caused  by, 
the  accumulation  of  ice  over  it.  Moreover,  this  sup- 
posed diminution  of  the  gradient  of  the  lower  Missouri 
would  be  aided  by  the  corresponding  floods  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  and  in  the  Ohio,  which  would,  at  the  same 
time  and  from  the  same  causes,  raise  the  level  of  the 


342  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

outlet  of  the  Missouri.  We  are  therefore  perfectly 
warranted  in  assuming  this  necessary  lower  gradient. 

Under  this  supposition,  the  course  of  events  can  be 
easily  outlined.  Beginning  with  May  of  each  year, 
the  water  from  the  melting  ice  over  250,000  square 
miles  of  territory  would  pour  into  the  middle  Missouri 
in  increasing  quantities  until  the  middle  of  August, 
when  it  would  attain  a  depth  of  two  hundred  feet,  and 
spread  out  over  all  the  adjacent  country  in  a  vast  lake- 
like expanse.  Into  the  central  current,  frequent  ice- 
floes, or  small  icebergs,  with  Canadian  boulders  in  their 
frozen  grasp,  would  find  their  way,  and  float  down- 
wards to  the  mouth  of  the  Osage  River.  There,  find- 
ing no  counter-current,  they  could  easily  be  carried  up 
the  trough  as  far  as  Tuscumbia,  and  stranded  on  the 
banks  one  hundred  feet  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the 
Missouri.  Thus  was  the  problem  solved  without  a 
flaw  in  the  argument,  or  the  use  of  a  supposition  which 
is  at  all  unreasonable  or  out  of  analogy  with  the  facts. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  supposition  of  such  a  re- 
curring temporary  lake  over  the  middle  Missouri  Val- 
ley is  necessary  to  account  for  the  peculiar  distribution 
of  the  loess  along  the  borders  of  its  trough  from  Da- 
kota to  Kansas  City.  This  deposit  occurs  to  a  re- 
markable extent  all  along  either  margin  of  the  trough 
of  the  Missouri  River,  being  more  than  one  hundred 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  343 

feet  thick  at  Sioux  City,  Council  Bluffs,  Omaha,  St. 
Joseph,  and  Kansas  City,  Mo.  Indeed,  at  St.  Joseph, 
it  is  more  than  two  hundred  feet  thick.  Back  from  the 
margin  the  loess  covers  the  area  up  to  the  level  of  about 
two  hundred  feet,  but  gradually  thins  out,  and  merges 
into  ordinary  clay  or  loam.  As  already  said,  however, 
the  loess  is  not  a  clay,  but  an  extremely  fine  sand,  with 
a  small  amount  of  clay  and  lime  intermingled.  It 
contains  few,  if  any,  lacustrine  shells,  but  many  species 
of  snail-shells,  such  as  are  now  found  in  the  vicinity, 
and  flourish  on  the  flood-plains  of  the  streams.  The 
character  of  these  shells,  and  the  difficulty  of  imagining 
a  body  of  water  from  which  the  sediment  could  be  de- 
rived, and  of  finding  an  adequate  source  for  the  water 
required,  have  led  many  to  suppose  that  the  loess  was 
brought  into  its  present  peculiar  position  by  the  wind. 
It  is  suggested  that  during  the  floods  of  the  Glacial 
epoch  (which  were  supposed  to  be  much  more  moderate 
than  present  facts  prove  them  to  have  been),  silt  from 
the  glaciated  area  was  deposited  over  the  flood-plain  of 
the  river,  and  from  there  blown  up  by  the  wind  to  the 
positions  now  occupied  by  it. 

But  in  the  Missouri  Valley  the  primary  agency  of 
wind  in  the  distribution  of  the  loess  is  negatived  by  the 
fact  that,  while  the  prevailing  winds  are  from  the 
southwest,  the  loess  is  found  on  both  sides  of  the  river 


344  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

in  about  equal  amounts,  and  also  by  the  fact  that  it 
frequently  occurs  in  level-topped  terraces,  such  as  could 
be  formed  only  under  water  action.  Finally,  the  posi- 
tive evidence  of  recurring  floods  two  hundred  feet  or 
more  high  in  the  Missouri,  adduced  from  the  occur- 
rence of  the  Canadian  boulders  at  Tuscumbia,  comes  in 
with  convincing  weight  to  furnish  the  vera  causa,  which 
had  before  been  lacking.  The  temporary  body  of  wa- 
ter which  we  suppose  to  have  spread  over  the  area 
covered  by  the  loess  necessarily  contained  a  moving 
stream  along  the  present  course  of  the  river.  This 
would  bring  in  the  supply  of  sediment  from  the  gla- 
ciated region  needed  to  account  for  the  special  promi- 
nence of  the  deposit  along  the  margin  of  the  trough. 
It  had  been  a  valid  objection  to  the  theory  of  a  standing 
body  of  water  over  the  area,  that  the  sediment  would  all 
be  deposited  around  the  northern  margin ;  whereas  it 
occurs  in  greatest  excess  for  several  hundred  miles 
along  the  middle  of  the  lacustrine  area.  This  could  be 
the  case  only  if  there  was  such  a  movement  of  water 
through  it  as  our  theory  supposes.-  Furthermore,  the 
temporary  and  recurring  nature  of  the  flood  would  ac- 
count for  the  absence  of  lacustrine  shells  and  the  pres- 
ence of  land-shells,  for  they  flourish  in  special  degree 
on  flood-plains  which  are  only  occasionally  submerged 
for  a  short  time. 


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346 


The  Deluge  in  North  America. 


While  these  conclusions  are  of  great  importance  in 
illustrating  the  general  fact  of  the  increased  activity  of 
certain  natural  forces  during  the  Glacial  epoch,  they 
assume  special  importance,  in  the  present  discussion, 
from  the  fact  that  at  Lansing,  Kansas,  near  Leaven- 


Stratified  Loess  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  200  ft.  Above  the  River. 
(Photograph  by  Miss  Luella  A.  Owen.) 

w^orth,  a  human  skeleton  was  found  buried  at  the  base 
of  an  undisturbed  section  of  this  loess,  showing  that 
man  was  in  the  valley  of  the  Missouri  River  before 
these  floods  attained  their  climax,  and  was,  very  likely, 


The  Deluge  in  North  A?nerica.  347 

exterminated  by  them.  Thus  is  added  another  instance 
to  the  many  which  can  be  adduced  to  show  the  destruc- 
tive power  of  the  floods  which  accompanied  the  close  of 
the  Glacial  epoch  during  the  period  of  man's  existence 
both  in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New.^ 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  will  appear  that  it  is  not 
an  altogether  improbable  theory  that,  at  the  time  of 
the   Deluge,   man   had   been   largely   exterminated   by 
natural    forces;    so    that    he  was    then    limited    to    a 
comparatively  small   area   in   Central  Asia.      In   such 
extermination,  he  would  only  have  shared  the  fate  of  a 
large   number  of   animals   that   failed   to   survive   the 
world-wide   physical   changes   which   accompanied   the 
Glacial  epoch.    For  it  is  well  known  that  on  both  con- 
tinents, at  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period,  there  oc- 
curred  a   remarkable   extinction   of   animals   which   is 
doubtless  connected  with  the  advance  of  the  continental 
ice-sheet.     Among  these  we  may  mention  two  species 
of  the  cat  family  as  large  as  lions;  four  species  of  the 
dog   family,   some  of   them-  larger  than   wolves;   two 
species  of  bears;  a  walrus,   found  in  Virginia;  three 
species  of  dolphins,  found  in  the  Eastern  States;  two 
species  of  the  sea-cow,   found   in   Florida   and   South 
Carolina;  six  species  of  the  horse;  the  existing  South 
American  tapir,  a  species  of  the  South  American  llama; 


348  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

a  camel ;  two  species  of  bison ;  three  species  of  sheep ; 
two  species  of  elephants  and  two  of  mastodons;  a 
species  of  megatherium,  three  of  megalonyx,  and  one 
of  mylodon — huge  terrestial  sloths  as  large  as  the  rhi- 
noceros, or  even  as  large  as  elephants,  which  ranged 
over  the  Southern  States  to  Pennsylvania,  and  the  my- 
lodon as  far  as  the  Great  Lakes  and  Oregon. 

In  the  Old  World  the  assemblage  of  animals  which 
were  contemporary  with  glacial  man,  but  became  ex- 
tinct in  the  temperate  zone,  is  equally  remarkable.  It 
includes  gigantic  species  of  lion,  tiger,  leopard,  hj^ena, 
bear,  elk,  musk-sheep,  and  reindeer,  while  the  hippopot- 
amus ranged  as  far  north  as  Yorkshire,  England,  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  fed  in  vast  herds  on  the  plains  of 
Sicily.  But  most  striking  of  all  is  the  case  of  the  ele- 
phant. One  species  only  four  or  five  feet  in  height 
abounded  in  Malta  and  Sicily,  and  one  in  Malta  that 
was  less  than  three  feet  in  height ;  a  large  species  wan- 
dered as  far  north  as  Yorkshire,  England ;  while  the 
largest  of  all,  the  mammoth,  spread  over  all  Western 
and  Central  Europe,  and  fairly  swarmed  over  the 
plains  of  Siberia  and  the  adjacent  islands.  A  brisk 
trade  in  ivory  from  their  tusks  is  still  kept  up  between 
Siberia  and  China.  So  recently  has  the  mammoth  be- 
come extinct  in  Siberia,  that  individuals  are  occasionally 
found,  frozen  in  the  ice,  with  their  flesh  still  undecayed. 


The  Deluge  in  North  America. 


349 


Mammoth  from   Siberia   mounted   in   the   Museum   at   St. 

Petersburg. 


This  mammoth  was  found  in  the  year  1900.  Its  skin 
and  skeleton  were  transported  to  St.  Petersburg  by  Mr.  I.  P. 
Tolmatschow.  The  carcass  was  at  the  bottom  of  a  steep 
slope  which  rises  to  a  height  of  170  feet  above  the  flood-plain 
of  the  Beresowka  River.  At  this  height  a  terrace  stretches 
back  for  half  a  mile,  where  the  land  rises  300  or  400  feet 
higher  to  the  general  level  of  a  forest-covered  plain.  The 
mammoth  was  completely  enveloped  in  the  frozen  soil  until 
washed  out  by  the  river.  The  appearance  was  as  if,  in 
stretching  out  to  reach  twigs,  he  had  slid  down  backward  in 
the  position  shown  in  the  illustration,  and  there  perished,  to 
be  frozen  into  the  accumulating  ice,  and  preserved  for  an  un- 
known  period    of   time. 


350  The  Deluge  in  North  Ainerica. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  speak  louder  than 
words.  The  specimen  now  mounted  in  the  St.  Peters- 
burg Museum  was  found  at  the  base  of  an  ice  cliff, 
covered  with  soil,  on  the  Beresowlca,  which  enters  the 
Arctic  Ocean  east  of  the  Lena.  The  climatic  changes 
which  first  permitted  this  animal  to  flourish  over  this 
northern  region  and  then  led  to  his  extermination  are 
the  most  puzzling  among  the  unsolved  unscientific  mys- 
teries. 

This  wondrous  assemblage  of  animals  became  extinct 
in  connection  with  the  Glacial  epoch,  as  their  re- 
mains are  all  found  in  post-Pliocene  deposits.  The 
intermingling  of  forms  is  remarkable.  The  horses, 
camels,  and  elephants  which  lived  in  North  America 
before  the  Glacial  epoch  were  found  subsequent  to  it 
only  in  the  Old  World,  while  the  llamas,  tapirs,  and 
gigantic  Edendata  are  South  American  types.  The 
progress  of  events  seems  to  have  been  about  as  follows : 
In  the  warm  period  preceding  the  Glacial  epoch,  when 
the  vegetation  of  the  temperate  zone  flourished  about 
the  north  pole,  there  was  land  connection  across  Be- 
ring Strait,  permitting  the  larger  species  of  the  Old 
World  to  migrate  to  North  America.  At  the  same 
time  the  conditions  in  North  America  were  favorable 
to  the  tropical  species  of  animals  which  had  developed 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  351 

and  flourished  in  South  America.    The  refrigeration  of 
the  climate  on  the  approach  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  and 
the  advance  of  the  ice  from  the  north,  cut  off  retreat  to 
the  Old  World  species,  and  gradually  hemmed  them  in 
over  the  southern  portion  of  the  continent,  where  all 
forms  of  life  were  compelled  to  readjust  themselves  to 
new  conditions.     The  struggle  for  existence  probably 
resulted,  first,  in  the  extinction  of  those  South  Ameri- 
can species  which  had  invaded  North  America  during 
the  warmer  climate  of  later  Tertiary  times;  since  the 
more  hardy  emigrants  from  the  north  would  have  the 
advantage  from  the  similarity  in  climate  in  the  south- 
ern  United   States  during  the  Glacial   epoch   to   that 
about  the  poles,  where  they  had  flourished  immediately 
before.     With  the  withdrawal  of  ice  to  the  north,  the 
struggle  of  the  animals  with  the  conditions  of  existence 
began'  anew,  and  the  mammoth  and  some  others  found 
themselves  unable  to  cope  with  the  changes  to  which 
they  were  compelled  to  adjust  themselves.     From  the 
abundance  of  remains  of  these  animals  found  in  the 
peat-bogs  of  kettle-holes  and  in  the  glacial  terraces  of 
gravel  and  loess,  it  is  evident  that  they  followed  close 
upon  the  retreating  ice-front,  and  some  of  them  con- 
tinued the  retreat  to  the  Arctic  Circle,  where  they  still 
live  and  flourish ;  while  others,  like  the  elephant  and 
mastodon,  perished. 


352  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

Few  things  are  better  calculated  to  impress  the  sci- 
entific imagination  than  this  dispersion  and  final  extinc- 
tion in  North  America  of  so  many  large  animals  native 
to  the  Old  World ;  while  some  of  them,  like  the  horse. 
were  admirably  adapted  to  the  present  conditions,  as 
is  shown  by  their  rapid  increase  since  their  introduction 
after  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  whites.  In  pre- 
ceding pages  we  have  already  seen  that  man  himself 
participated  in  this  struggle  with  the  new  conditions 
introduced  by  the  Glacial  epoch  on  this  continent,  and 
that,  in  company  with  the  mammoth,  walrus,  and  other 
arctic  species,  he  followed  up  the  retreating  ice  both 
upon  the  Atlantic  coast  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Whether,  like  some  of  his  companions,  he  was  unsuc- 
cessful in  the  contest,  is  not  certain,  though  there  is 
much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  theory  that  the  Eski- 
mos of  the  north  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  pre- 
glacial  men  whose  implements  are  found  in  New 
Jersey,  Ohio,  and  Minnesota. 

Mr.  Darwin  early  called  attention  to  the  more  gen- 
eral evidence  of  a  destruction  of  life  during  the  Qua- 
ternary epoch  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  During  his 
voyage  around  the  world  in  the  Beagle,  in  1833,  he 
encountered  in  Buenos  Ayres  the  clear  evidence  which 
that  region  furnishes  of  the  sweeping  changes  in  forms 
of  animal  life  which  have  taken  place  everywhere  in 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  353 

recent  geological  times.  At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus,  the  horse  was  entirely  absent 
from  the  continent ;  but  in  those  South  American  plains, 
where  now  immense  herds  of  this  animal  run  wild,  and 
where  it  is  no  figure  of  speech  to  say  that  beggars  ride 
horseback,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  horse, 
with  a  large  number  of  immense  ^quadrupeds  associated 
with  him,  lived  and  flourished  up  to  recent  geological 
time,  and  then  mysteriously  disappeared.  Among  these 
companions  of  the  horse  in  South  America  were  the  mas- 
todon, the  megatherium,  the  megalonyx,  a  species  of 
camel,  the  toxodon,  and  a  hollow-horned  ruminant 
closely  allied  to  the  European  cattle.  By  comparison  it 
will  be  seen  that  these  are  substantially  the  same  spe- 
cies of  animals  which  characterized  North  America  at 
this  same  period,  and  whose  bones  are  found  in  the  re- 
cent geological  deposits  of  California,  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  plains  and  in  Eastern  United  States. 

Commenting  upon  the  cause  of  this,  Darwin  re- 
marks : — 

"  We  do  not  steadily  bear  in  mind  how  profoundly 
ignorant  we  are  of  the  conditions  of  existence  of  every 
animal,  nor  do  we  always  remember  that  some  check  is 
constantly  preventing  the  too  rapid  increase  of  every  or- 
ganized being  left  in  a  state  of  nature.  ...  If  asked 
how   this   is,    one   immediately    replies   that   it   is    de- 


354  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

termined  by  some  slight  difference  in  climate,  food,  or 
the  number  of  enemies,  yet  how  rarely,  if  ever,  we  can 
point  out  the  precise  cause  and  manner  of  action  of  the 
check!  We  are  therefore  driven  to  the  conclusion  that 
causes  generally  quite  inappreciable  by  us  determine 
whether  a  given  species  shall  be  abundant  or  scanty  in 
numbers." 

After  a  careful  survey  of  the  facts  relating  to  the 
extinction  of  species  in  post-Tertiary  time.  Professor 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  in  the  first  volume  of  his 
great  work  "  The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Ani- 
mals," makes  the  following  remarks,  specially  perti- 
nent to  our  subject : — 

"  The  first,  and  perhaps  the  most  startling  fact 
brought  out  by  our  systematic  review,  is  the  very  re- 
cent and  almost  universal  change  that  has  taken  place 
in  the  character  of  the  fauna,  over  all  the  areas  we 
have  been  considering;  a  change  which  seems  to  be  al- 
together unprecedented  in  the  past  history  of  the  same 
countries  as  revealed  by  the  geological  record.  In 
Europe,  in  North  America,  and  in  South  America,  we 
have  evidence  that  a  very  similar  change  occurred  about 
the  same  time.  In  all  three  we  find,  in  the  most  recent 
deposits — cave-earths,  peat-bogs,  and  gravels — the  re- 
mains of  a  whole  series  of  large  animals,  which  have 
since  become  wholly  extinct  or  only  survive  in  far- 
distant  lands.  In  Europe,  the  great  Irish  elk,  the 
Machairodus  and  cave-lion,  the  rhinoceros,  hippopota- 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  355 

mus,  and  elephant; — in  North  America,  equally  large 
felines,  horses  and  tapirs  larger  than  any  now  living,  a 
llama  as  large  as  a  camel,  great  mastodons  and  ele- 
phants, and  abundance  of  huge  megatheroid  animals 
of  almost  equal  size ; — in  South  America  these  same 
megatheroids  in  greater  variety,  numerous  huge  arma- 
dillos, a  mastodon,  large  horses  and  tapirs,  large  por- 
cupines, two  forms  of  antelope,  numerous  bears  and 
felines,  including  a  Machairodus,  and  a  large  monkey, 
— have  all  become  extinct  since  the  deposition  of  the 
most  recent  of  the  fossil-bearing  strata.  This  is  cer- 
tainly not  a  great  while  ago,  geologically;  and  it  is 
almost  certain  that  this  great  organic  revolution,  im- 
plying phj^sical  changes  of  such  vast  proportions  that 
they  must  have  been  due  to  causes  of  adequate  in- 
tensity and  proportionate  range,  has  taken  place  since 
man  lived  on  the  earth.  This  is  proved  to  have  been 
the  case  in  Europe,  and  is  supported  by  much  evidence 
both  as  regards  North  and  South  America. 

"  It  is  clear  that  so  complete  and  sudden  a  change 
in  the  higher  forms  of  life,  does  not  represent  the  nor- 
mal state  of  things.  Species  and  genera  have  not,  at 
all  times,  become  so  rapidly  extinct.  The  time  occu- 
pied by  the  '  Recent  period,'  that  is  the  time  since  these 
changes  took  place,  is,  geologically,  minute.  The  time 
■of  the  whole  of  the  post-Pliocene  period,  as  measured 
by  the  amount  of  physical  and  general  organic  change 
known  to  have  taken  place,  is  exceedingly  small  when 
compared  with  the  duration  of  the  Pliocene  period,  and 
-Still  smaller,  probably,  as  compared  with  the  Miocene. 


356  The  Deluge  in  North  A?nerica. 

Yet  during  these  two  periods  we  meet  with  no  such 
break  in  the  continuity  of  the  forms  of  life,  no  such 
radical  change  in  the  character  of  the  fauna  (though 
the  number  of  specific  and  generic  changes  m^y  be  as 
great)  as  we  find  in  passing  from  the  post-Pliocene  to 
recent  times.  For  example,  in  Central  Europe  numer- 
ous hyenas,  rhinoceroses,  and  antelopes,  with  the  great 
Machairodus,  continued  from  Miocene  all  through  Pli- 
cene  into  post-Pliocene  times;  while  hippopotami  and 
elephants  continued  to  live  through  a  good  part  of  the 
Pliocene  and  post-Pliocene  periods, — and  then  all  sud- 
denly became  extinct  or  left  the  country.  In  North 
America  there  has  been  more  movement  of  the  fauna 
in  all  the  periods;  but  we  have  similar  great  felines, 
horses,  mastodons,  and  elephants,  in  the  Pliocene  and 
post-Pliocene  periods,  while  Rhinoceros  is  common  to 
the  Miocene  and  Pliocene,  and  camels  range  continu- 
ously from  Miocene,  through  Pliocene,  to  post-Pliocene 
times; — when  all  alike  became  extinct.  Even  in  South 
America  the  evidence  is,  as  far  as  it  goes,  all  the  same 
wa}^  We  find  Machairodus,  Equus,  Mastodon,  Me- 
gatherium, Scelidotherium,  Megalonyx,  and  numerous 
gigantic  armadillos,  alike  in  the  caves  and  in  the  strati- 
fied Tertiary  deposits  of  the  Pampas, — yet  all  have 
since  passed  away. 

"  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  we  are  now  in  an  alto- 
gether exceptional  period  of  the  earth's  history.  We 
live  in  a  zoologically  impoverished  world,  from  which 
all  the  hugest,  and  fiercest,  and  strangest  forms  have 
recently  disappeared  ;  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  a  much  better 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  •    357 

world  for  us  now  they  have  gone.  Yet  it  is  surely  a 
marvelous  fact,  and  one  that  has  hardly  been  sufficiently 
dwelt  upon,  this  sudden  dying  out  of  so  many  large 
mammalia,  not  in  one  place  only  but  over  half  the 
land  surface  of  the  globe.  We  cannot  but  believe  that 
there  must  have  been  some  physical  cause  for  this  great 
change;  and  it  must  have  been  a  cause  capable  of  act- 
ing almost  simultaneously  over  large  portions  of  the 
earth's  surface,  and  one  which,  as  far  as  the  Tertiary 
period  at  least  is  concerned,  was  of  an  exceptional 
character.  Such  a  cause  exists  in  the  great  and  recent 
physical  change  known  as  the  '  Glacial  epoch  '  "  (pp. 
149-151). 

So  far  we  have  considered  the  facts  concerning 
the  Glacial  epoch  which  relate  merely  to  the  northern 
hemisphere.  The  southern  hemisphere  also  had  its 
glacial  epoch.  A  vast  area  surrounding  the  south  pole 
is  now  enveloped  in  ice  to  even  a  greater  extent  than 
is  Greenland,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  north  pole.  The 
southern  part  of  South  America  still  maintains  a  great 
array  of  mountain  glaciers  which  are  mere  remnants  of 
streams  of  ice  that  formerly  deployed  over  the  adjoining 
plains,  and  filled  the  channels  of  its  neighboring  archi- 
pelagoes. New  Zealand,  also,  bears  witness  to  a  re- 
cent great  enlargement  of  the  glaciers  which  are  still 
an  attractive  element  in  its  mountain  scenery. 

Whether  the  Glacial  epoch   in  the  southern   hemi- 


358  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

sphere  was  contemporaneous  with  that  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  is  a  matter  somewhat  in  question.  But  the 
evidence  strongly  indicates  that  it  was.  If  so,  the  esti- 
mates which  we  have  made  concerning  the  influence  of 
the  accumulation  of  ice  during  the  Glacial  epoch  upon 
changes  of  land-level,  and  of  the  amount  of  water  ab- 
stracted from  the  ocean,  must  be  greatly  increased,  and 
the  argument  bearing  on  the  influence  of  the  Glacial 
epoch  in  so  disturbing  the  conditions  of  animal  life  as 
to  produce  the  extermination  of  species  detailed  above 
would  be  greatly  strengthened.  Indeed,  Air.  Thomas 
Belt,  one  of  the  acutest  students  of  the  general  influ- 
ences of  the  Glacial  epoch,  supposing  that  the  Ice  period 
was  simultaneous  in  both  hemispheres,  calculated  that 
the  vast  amount  of  water  abstracted  from  the  ocean, 
and  locked  up  in  mountains  of  ice  around  the  two 
poles,  would  lower  the  general  w^ater-level  .about  two 
thousand  feet. 

SUMMARY    AND    CONCLUSION. 

From  this  survey  of  facts,  it  appears  that  the  sup- 
position of  a  wide-spread  submergence  of  Europe  and 
Asia  which  continued  for  but  a  brief  period  and 
occurred  since  man  came  into  the  world,  so  far  from 
presenting  any  insuperable  diflficulties  to  the  well- 
informed  geologist,  relieves  him  from  a  great  number 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  359 

of  difficulties,  and  gives  a  reasonable  explanation  to  a 
large  and  accumulating  class  of  facts  which  refuse  any 
other  explanation.  In  conclusion,  it  will  be  profitable 
briefly  to  state  the  theory  anew,  and  summarize  the 
facts  so  readily  resolved  by  it.  The  scientific  supposi- 
tion in  conformity  with  the  general  statements  of  the 
Bible  concerning  the  Noachian  Deluge  would  be  about 
as  follows: — 

In  connection  with  the  instability  of  the  earth's  crust 
accompanying,  and  probably  caused  by,  the  accumula- 
tions of  ice  during  the  Glacial  epoch  and  its  subsequent 
melting,  with  the  return  of  the  w^ater  to  the  ocean  bed, 
there  was  a  wide-spread  depression  of  Europe  and  of 
Northern,  Central,  and  Western  Asia,  which,  though 
gradual  at  first,  culminated  in  a  catastrophe  of  more 
rapid  subsidence,  followed  by  a  still  more  rapid  emer- 
gence of  the  continents,  with  numerous  successive  sud- 
den uplifts  over  various  portions  of  the  submerged  area. 
Such  a  continental  subsidence,  amounting  to  about 
fourteen  hundred  feet  in  Western  Europe  and  about 
three  thousand  feet  around  the  heaviest  continental 
masses  of  Central  Asia,  would  fill  the  Jordan  Valley 
with  oceanic  water;  would  temporarily  convert  all  Eu- 
ropean Russia,  except  the  Ural  Mountains,  in  com- 
pany with   the  great  Aral-Caspian  depression  and  all 


360  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

Western  and  Northwestern  Siberia,  into  a  sea;  would 
make  Lake  Baikal  an  arm  of  the  ocean,  and  would  let 
oceanic  water  through  the  Sungarian  depression,  south- 
east of  Lake  Balkash,  into  the  Desert  of  Gobi,  and  there 
fill  a  basin  in  the  center  of  Asia  larger  than  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  Corresponding  results  w^ould  naturally 
follow  in  the  entire  valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  about 
the  borders  of  Armenia.  This  depression  of  the  land, 
followed  by  a  spasmodic  emergence,  would  readily  ac- 
count for  the  follow^ing  puzzling  facts: — 

1.  The  rubble  drift  of  Great  Britain  and  Western 
Europe,  with  its  widely  dispersed  boulders  from  local 
■elevations  which  were  not  centers  for  the  accumulation 
of  glacial  ice,  and  which  could  not  have  generated  lo- 
cal streams  of  water  sufficient  to  produce  the  results. 

2.  The  filling  of  the  numerous  ossiferous  fissures 
in  Western  Europe  with  an  indiscriminate  mixture  of 
the  separate  bones  of  widely  diverse  species  of  animals, 
mingled  with  angular  fragments  of  rock  and  with  earth 
without  stratification,  and  containing  occasional  stone 
implements  made  by  the  hand  of  man.  These  could 
not  have  been  filled  gradually,  because  there  are  no 
entire  skeletons  of  animals,  and  none  of  the  bones  are 
gnawed.  But  they  were  evidently  filled  by  the  indis- 
criminate action  of  a  movement  of  water  acting  from 
above,  and  sweeping  everything  before  it. 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  361 

3.  The  distribution  of  loess  over  not  only  the  ele- 
vated portions  of  the  continent,  but  over  the  highest 
elevations  in  such  islands  as  that  of  Guernsey,  in  the 
English  Channel,  separated  by  many  miles  from  the 
continent. 

4.  The  enormous  accumulations  of  the  bones  of 
hippopotami  in  the  cave  of  San  Giro,  near  Palermo,  on 
the  Island  of  Sicily,  where  w^hole  herds  of  this  animal, 
which  now  lives  only  in  Southern  Africa,  evidently 
sought  refuge  from  rising  water  in  an  extensive  cave 
at  the  base  of  the  rugged  cliffs  of  Monte  Grifone. 

5.  The  recent  silting  up  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  re- 
sulting in  a  vast  accumulation  of  fine  sediment,  in  some 
places  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness,  and  forming  ter- 
races and  shore-lines  up  to  a  level  of  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  above  the  Dead  Sea.  The  recentness  of 
this  accumulation  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  only  a 
limited  amount  of  it  has  yet  been  washed  down  into 
the  Dead  Sea  to  fill  it  up.  The  supposition  that  this 
former  enlargement  of  the  area  of  water  in  the  Jordan 
Valley  was  directly  due  to  the  Glacial  epoch  is  without 
evidence,  as  no  signs  of  former  glaciers  appear  in  the 
southern  portion  of  the  Lebanon  region.  The  Lebanon 
glacier  at  the  head  of  the  Kadisha  River,  north  of 
Beirut,  was,  very  likely,  a  result  of  the  increased  pre- 


362  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

cipitation  incident  to  this  increased  expanse  of  water. 

6.  The  accumulation  of  extensive  beach  gravel  of 
recent  date  at  an  elevation  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
feet  above  the  ocean  at  various  places  around  the  Black 
Sea. 

7.  The  accumulation  of  extensive  gravel  deposits 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  Lena  Valley  and  adjacent 
country,  several  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean,  contain- 
ing fresh  vegetal  deposits  and  the  bones  of  the  mam- 
moth. 

8.  The  existence  of  Arctic  seal  in  Lake  Baikal,  two 
thousand  miles  from  the  ocean,  and  1,680  feet  above  it. 

9.  The  many  geological  evidences  of  a  recent  great 
extension  of  water  over  the  region  now  generally 
known  as  the  Desert  of  Gobi. 

10.  The  historical  Chinese  tradition  of  the  exis- 
tence of  such  a  vast  body  of  water  in  the  same  region, 
known  as  the  Han  Hai. 

11.  The  recent  great  climatic  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  Central  Asia,  indicated  by  the  freshness 
of  the  water  in  the  Caspian  and  Aral  seas  and  Lake 
Balkash,  and  by  the  former  vastly  increased  volume  of 
the  ancient  Oxus  and  Jaxartes  rivers,  and  of  numerous 
other  streams  coming  down  from  the  mountains  of 
Central  Asia.     For,  only  the  temporary  inclusion  of 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  363 

such  an  interior  sea  as  would  be  formed  in  the  Desert 
of  Gobi  would  furnish  the  required  evaporating  sur- 
face to  secure  the  enlarged  rainfall  implied ;  while  its 
gradual  desiccation  would  bring  about  the  return  of 
the  present  arid  conditions,  thus  furnishing  a  perfect 
solution  of  one  of  the  most  complicated  problems  of 
climatic  changes  that  have  ever  been  presented,  ac- 
counting for  all  stages  in  the  progress  of  events,  even 
the  limited  enlargement  of  the  glaciers  which  formerly 
existed  in  the  surrounding  mountains. 

12.  The  constancy  with  which  the  pressure  of  pop- 
ulation has  tended  to  disperse  the  tribes  and  races 
which  have  occupied  Central  Asia.  To  some  extent 
this  may  have  been  due  to  the  natural  tendency  of  man 
to  increase  in  geometric  ratio,  but,  doubtless,  partly  to 
the  loss  of  fertility  consequent  upon  the  diminution  of 
rainfall,  of  which  there  are  innumerable  signs. 

13.  The  final  distribution  of  loess  in  broad,  level, 
terrace-like  belts  bordering  both  Turkestan  and  North- 
western China ;  for,  however  much  wind  may  have  had 
to  do  in  slowly  accumulating  the  material  about  the 
bases  of  the  mountains,  it  is  clear  that  some  more  gen- 
eral force  than  local  streams  or  any  other  slowly  acting 
cause  has  determined  a  large  part  of  the  final  read- 
justment of  the  material. 


364  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

14.  The  occurrence  of  human  remains  in  connec- 
tion with  those  of  extinct  animals  of  the  Glacial  epoch 
at  Kief,  in  Southern  Russia,  six  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  fifty  feet  below  the  continuous  deposit  of 
loess  which  covers  the  region. 

15.  The  wide-spread  traditions  of  a  flood  found 
among  the  peoples  of  nearly  every  portion  of  the  globe. 

16.  The  more  definite  and  restrained  account,  evi- 
dently free  from  absurd  legendary  accretions,  which 
occurs  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 

17.  The  great  destruction  of  animal  species  which 
were  early  companions  of  man  during  and  immediately 
after  the  Glacial  epoch. 

OBJECTIONS    ANSWERED. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  reply  to  numerous  objections 
that  may  arise,  by  quoting  a  few  paragraphs  from  Pro- 
fessor Prestwich's  closing  remarks : — 

"A  preliminary  objection  to  a  submergence  of  the 
character  described  in  the  foregoing  pages,  that  will  no 
doubt  occur  to  many,  must  not  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
I  allude  to  the  entire  absence  of  marine  remains  in  the 
different  phases  of  the  rubble  drift  over  the  area  sup- 
posed to  have  been  submerged.  In  reply,  it  has  to  be 
observed  that  for  marine  remains  to  have  been  located 
on  the  submerged  land,  certain  conditions  would  be 
indispensable.     In  the  absence  of  those  conditions,  we 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  365 

could  not  expect  to  meet  with  such  remains.  It  is  not 
to  be  assumed,  because  the  waters  of  the  sea  have  for  a 
time  covered  the  land,  that  marine  remains  should  be 
found  there.  If  the  submergence  were  slow,  the  ad- 
vance of  the  waters  would  not  have  force  sufficient  to 
carry  before  them  any  of  the  objects  on  the  shore;  or, 
if  any  living  object  were  so  floated,  the  turbidity  and 
deoxydized  state  of  the  waters  resulting  from  the  up- 
rooting of  the  surface  soil  with  its  vegetable  matter 
would  be  fatal  to  animal  life,  and  their  remains,  if  any, 
would  decay  on  the  surface  and  be  lost. 

"  But  it  may  be  asked.  Why  after  the  submergence, 
and  before  the  return  upward  movement,  should  not 
the  fauna  from  adjacent  undisturbed  areas  have  mi- 
grated on  to  the  submerged  land  surface?  This  would 
no  doubt  have  taken  place  had  the  submergence  been  of 
long  duration  ;  but,  short  as  the  general  evidence  leads 
us  to  suppose  it  to  have  been,  such  a  migration  was  not 
possible.  The  muddy  state  of  the  waters  would  also 
for  a  time  be  a  hindrance  to  the  existence  of  animal  life. 

"  The  physical  evidence  is  to  the  effect  that  the  ad- 
vancing waters  had  little  erosive  power,  since  they 
failed  to  destroy  the  beaches  over  which  they  passed, 
or  to  wash  away  the  dunes  or  blown  sands  which  over- 
lie the  raised  beaches  on  the  north  coast  of  Devon  and 
Cornwall.  At  the  same  time,  the  advance  of  the  waters 
was  progressive,  as,  had  they  been  long  stayed,  they 
would  not  only  have  destroyed  these  surface  features, 
but  would  have  left  their  mark  on  the  land  surface, 
either  in  the  form  of  a  beach,  or  by  a  Vme  of  water- 


366  The  Deluge  in  North  America. 

erosion  on  the  rocks  at  the  level  at  which  they  remained 
for  the  time  stationary.  The  inference  is  that  the  wa- 
ters rose  slowly  and  continuously,  charged  merely  with 
the  mass  of  sediment  derived  from  the  soil  and  rocks 
over  which  they  passed.  This  sediment,  which  was  de- 
posited either  at  the  high  tide  of  the  waters  or  at 
intervals  as  they  subsided,  forms  the  mantle  of  loess  so 
conspicuous  in  Central  Europe,  and  of  the  slighter  de- 
posit of  red  earth  so  widely  spread  on  the  lands  border- 
ing the  Mediterranean. 

"  That  there  w^as  but  a  short  lull  when  the  submer- 
gence reached  this  stage  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  the  rubble  drift  rests  immediately  on  the  raised 
beach.  Had  there  been  any  long  interval,  there  would 
have  been  some  form  of  sedimentary  deposit  between 
the  beach  and  the  head  or  the  blown  sands ;  but  there 
is  none.  With  the  commencement  of  the  elevatory 
movement,  effluent  currents  at  once  came  into  play, 
and  according  to  their  varying  velocity,  carried  down, 
sometimes  the  surface  soil  or  the  freshly  deposited  loess, 
and  at  others  the  coarse  surface  detritus.  The  con- 
clusion from  this  is  that  the  upheaval  was  by  fits  and 
starts,  or  rather  by  a  continuous  movement,  sometimes 
very  slow  and  at  others  more  or  less  rapid,  and  ending 
with  one  of  greater  rapidity.  Where  hollows  or  cav- 
ities existed  on  the  surface,  the  debris  fell  into  them. 
Open  fissures  were  filled  to  the  brim  by  the  passing 
debris,  while  the  current,  acting  as  a  broom,  brushed 
■off  any  projecting  debris  on  the  top  of  the  fissures,  and 


The  Deluge  in  North  America.  367 

at  the  same  time  swept  bare  the  adjacent  more  exposed 
surfaces. 

"  We  judge  from  these  conditions  that  the  submer- 
gence took  place  slowly  and  continuously.  I  do  not 
mean  by  slow,  that  it  took  years,  but  so  slow  possibly 
as  on  the  whole  to  be  hardly  apparent  to  the  spectator 
of  the  scene,  or,  may  be,  it  would  give  him  the  reverse 
impression,  such  as  that  experienced  when  one's  own 
train  at  a  railway  station  makes  a  noiseless  start  and 
another  train  is  standing  still  alongside,  that  that  train 
w^as  moving  and  your  own  stationary,  or  vice  versa. 
So,  in  this  case,  the  land  would  seem,  to  one  standing 
on  it,  as  though  it  were  immovable  and  stationary,  and 
that  it  was  the  waters  that  were  in  movement  and 
rising."  * 


368  Genesis  and  Science. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


GENESIS  AND  SCIENCE, 


In  writing  upon  this  subject  at  previous  times, ^  I 
have  dwelt,  I  now  believe,  somewhat  too  exclusively 
upon  the  adaptation  of  the  document  to  the  immediate 
purpose  of  counteracting  the  polytheistic  tendencies  of 
the  Israelites,  and  through  them  of  the  world.  With 
this  in  view,  the  following  language  was  used: — 

"  It  was  not  modern  science  with  which  the  sacred 
writers  wished  to  be  reconciled,  but  polytheism  which 
they  wished  to  cut  up  root  and  branch,  that  gave  rhe- 
torical shape  to  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Followed 
by  the  traditions  of  polytheistic  ancestors,  tainted  by 
the  polytheistic  conceptions  of  the  Egyptian  people  from 
whom  they  had  escaped,  and  surrounded  by  the  civi- 
lized worshipers  of  Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  the  children 
of  Israel  needed  to  have  the  unity  of  God  emphasized. 
Historically  it  can  be  shown  that  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  has  had  more  influence  in  disseminating  cor- 
rect views  of  the  divine  unity  and  personality  than  all 
other  literature  put  together.  Now  what  does  it  say? 
Why,  it  denies  the  plurality  of  gods.  It  denies  it  both 
in  general  and  in  detail.  It  affirms,  in  general,  that 
God — the  God  of  Israel — created  the  heavens  and  the 


Genesis  and  Science.  369 

earth.  The  writer  then  descends  to  particulars,  and 
affirms  ( i )  that  it  was  this  same  one  and  true  God 
who  created  the  h'ght  which  some  ignorantly  adored 
as  itself  divine;  (2)  it  was  also  the  same  God  that 
ruled  both  the  sky  and  the  earth.  (3)  The  fruitfulness 
of  the  earth,  which  some  worship  as  the  manifestation 
of  a  particular  divinity,  is  also  the  gift  of  Israel's 
God.  (4)  The  sun  and  moon  are  not  to  be  worshiped  ; 
God  created  them.  (5)  Why  worship  the  sacred  bulls 
and  cats  of  Egypt,  when  it  was  God  who  created  every 
living  thing — the  beast  of  the  field,  as  well  as  the  fowl 
of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea?  (6)  Finally,  God 
created  man,  and  set  him  over  all  things  he  had  made. 
Why  should  the  lord  of  the  creation  bow  down  to 
stocks  and  stones? 

"  Such,  to  the  contemporary  of  Moses,  was  the  pur- 
port of  this  most  remarkable  '  proem  '  to  God's  reve- 
lation of  man's  condition  and  ground  of  hope.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
had  the  same  editorial  supervision  with  the  ten  com- 
mandments. When  thus  we  consider  it  as  a  protest 
against  polytheism,  and  an  enforcement  of  the  first  two 
commandments,  it  seems  an  impertinence  to  endeavor 
to  find  all  modern  science  in  the  document,  however 
easy  it  may  be  for  science  to  find  shelter  under  the  dra- 
pery of  its  rhetoric." 

If  this  were  all  that  could  be  said  in  justification 
of  the  literary  form  of  Genesis,  it  would  be  ample. 
But  prolonged  attention  to  the  subject  has  forced  the 


370  Genesis  and  Science. 

conviction  that  much  more  than  this  can  be  and  needs 
to  be  said.  On  the  former  theory,  there  would  have 
been  no  necessity  for  the  adoption  of  any  particular 
order  in  the  arrangement  of  the  facts  of  creation.  But, 
upon  inspection,  there  appears  in  this  account  a  syste- 
matic arrangement  of  creative  facts  which  corresponds 
so  closely  with  the  order  of  creation  as  revealed  by 
modern  science  that  we  cannot  well  regard  it  as  acci- 
dental. So  remarkable  is  this  coordination  between  the 
inferences  of  science  and  the  statements  of  Genesis, 
that  they  lead  such  a  competent  and  cautious  geologist 
as  Professor  J.  D.  Dana  to  pronounce  it  utterly  unex- 
plainable  except  on  the  theory  of  the  divine  inspiration 
of  the  author  of  Genesis.  The  following  is  his  em- 
phatic language,  written  shortly  before  his  death: — 

"  Geologists  vary  much  as  to  their  views  on  this 
chapter  [Gen.  i.]  ;  and  some  will  take  it  literally,  af- 
firming that  it  is  a  mere  fable,  no  better  than  other 
fables  in  ancient  history.  We  would  ask  of  all  such 
(as  well  as  of  the  nature-doubting  exegete)  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  question ;  and-  if  they  have  doubts  with 
regard  to  the  authenticity  of  the  Bible  itself,  they  may 
perhaps  be  held,  after  a  fair  examination  of  the  narra- 
tive, and  a  consideration  of  the  coincidences  between  its 
history  and  the  history  of  the  earth  derived  from  na- 
ture, to  acknowledge  a  divine  origin  for  both;  and  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  in  this  introductory  chapter  its 


Genesis  and  Science. 


371 


divine  author  gives  the  fullest  endorsement  of  the 
book  which  is  so  prefaced.  It  is  his  own  inscription 
on  the  title-page."  - 

It  should  be  noted  that  this  utterance  of  Professor 
Dana   is   neither   an   opinion   hastily   formed,    nor   the 
mere  reiteration  of  views  held  at  an  earlier  period  in 
his  life.     Nearly  thirty  years  before,  he  had  published 
extensively  upon  this  subject  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra, 
having  then   recently  been   convinced   of   the   general 
truth  of  this  view,  through  his  acquaintance  with  the 
learned    and    devout    Professor   Guyot.      During   this 
period.   Professor   Dana's  mind   had   been   remarkably 
active.    He  had  continued  to  edit  the  American  Journal 
of  Science  and  to  teach  his  classes  in  college;  he  had 
prepared    and    published    numerous    editions    of    his 
"  Manual  of  Geology,"  and  he  had  continually  faced 
the  question  whether  the  tendency  of  advancing  science 
was  to  support  or  discredit  his  earlier  published  views. 
The  result  is  given  in  the  words  just  cited.     As  just 
remarked,  these  were  not  hastily  written,  but  form  the 
close  of  a  long  article,  prepared  expressly  to  give  to  the 
world  what  they  had  long  been  asking, — a  formal  and 
full  statement  of  the  result  of  his  maturest  study  and 
reflection.     We  are  not  at  liberty  to  let  such  an  utter- 
ance of  so  competent  a  scientific  authority  upon  this 
subject  count  as  of  small  weight. 


372  Genesis  and  Science. 

The  facts  upon  the  scientific  side,  as  stated  by  Pro- 
fessor Dana  in  the  article  referred  to,  are  as  follows: 
According  to  a  combination  of  evidence  which  cannot 
well  be  disputed,  the  stages  of  the  world's  development 
have  been  these : — 

1.  When  the  material  elements  of  the  universe  were 
first  brought  into  existence,  they  were  diffused  and 
formless,  that  is,  they  were  not  collected  to  form  the 
suns  and  planets  and  satellites,  which  now  in  such  ma- 
jestic circles  wheel  around  each  other  in  space.  The 
nebular  hypothesis  is  already  a  doctrine  of  science. 

2.  One  of  the  first  results  of  the  collecting  to- 
gether of  this  diffused  nebulous  matter  would  be  the 
creation  of  light,  which,  like  heat  and  electricity,  is 
nothing  else  than  a  mode  of  motion. 

3.  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  earth  was 
at  one  time  a  molten  mass,  with  a  temperature  of 
2,000°  above  zero,  and  hence  for  a  long  time,  until  the 
surface  of  the  earth  should  have  cooled  down  to  a  tem- 
perature not  greater  than  600°  above  zero,  there  could 
have  been  no  water  upon  it,  and  it  must  have  been  sur- 
rounded by  a  cloud  of  vapor  of  immense  thickness  and 
density,  which  would  have  been  broken  up  and  re- 
moved only  after  the  lapse  of  untold  ages. 

4.  The  appearance  of  plants  upon  the  earth  pre- 
ceded  that  of  animals.     This  is  proved   both  by  the 


Genesis  and  Science.  373 

nature  of  the  case  and  by  weighty  positive  evidence: 
( I )  So  far  as  is  known,  animals  are  not  able  directly 
to  assimilate  mineral  matter.  Animals  are  either  com- 
pelled to  feed  upon  plants  or  upon  one  another;  while 
plants  draw  their  nutriment  directly  from  the  earth 
and  air.  (2)  Plants  will  also  endure  a  much  higher 
temperature  than  any  known  animals.  Some  forms  of 
plant  life  will  even  survive  a  temperature  of  220°  above 
zero,  that  is,  they  would  not  be  destroyed  by  boiling 
water.  (3)  Again,  the  lowest  forms  of  animal  life 
(certain  rhizopods)  exhibit  such  marvelous  attributes 
of  instinct  and  choice  as  to  separate  them  at  once  from 
all  forms  of  plant  life.  Every  argument,  therefore,  in 
support  of  the  general  fact  of  evolution  in  nature,  points 
to  the  origin  of  plant  life  before  that  of  animal  life. 
(4)  In  the  earliest  known  sedimentary  rocks,  namely, 
the  arch^ean  formations  of  Canada,  there  are  extensive 
■deposits  of  graphite,  or  black  lead.  Now  it  should  be 
remembered  that  this,  though  called  "  black  lead,"  is 
not  lead  at  all,  but  pure  carbon,  or  coal,  and  the  prob- 
ability that  it  is  of  vegetable  origin,  like  other  coal,  is 
very  great.  It  is  true  that  distinct  remains  of  plants 
have  not  yet  been  found  in  archaean  rocks ;  but  these 
rocks  have  been  so  metamorphosed,  or  changed,  by  heat, 
that  all  direct  relics  of  distinct  forms  of  plant  life  must 
very  early  have  been  destroyed.     Still,  in  Rhode  Island 


374  Genesis  and  Science. 

and  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  this  so-called  black  lead  is 
found  so  related  to  the  coal  deposits  of  that  vicinity 
that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  is  itself  trans- 
formed coal.  Thus  the  evidence  is  cumulative  and 
well-nigh  irresistible,  that  plants  were  created  before 
animals. 

5.  The  order  in  which  the  various  forms  of  animal 
life  have  appeared  on  the  earth  is  as  follows:  The  sea 
was  first  peopled  w^ith  animals  not  having  a  backbone, 
such  as  the  various  kinds  of  shell-fish.  Fishes  with  a 
backbone  come  next.  After  fishes,  the  next  order  of 
animals  which  appears  in  geological  strata  are  Amphib- 
ians, which,  like  the  frog,  can  live  both  in  the  water 
and  out  of  it.  After  the  amphibians  come  the  Reptiles, 
or  creeping  things.  So  numerous  are  the  reptiles  in 
this  age,  and  so  remarkable  are  their  size  and  shape,  that 
a  whole  geological  period  before  the  introduction  of 
the  class  of  animals  with  which  man  is  most  closely 
allied  is  called  by  Agassiz  the  Age  of  Reptiles. 

As  to  the  date  of  the  origin  of  Birds,  the  scientific 
evidence  is  somewhat  indeterminate;  but  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  their  advent  preceded  that  of  the 
earliest  mammals.  The  Mammals  are  those  animals 
whose  young  are  born  alive  and  are  suckled  by  their 
mothers.  The  earliest  of  these,  however,  like  the 
opossum  and  kangaroo,   are  not  true  mammals,  since 


Genesis  and  Science.  375 

their  young  are  not  able  to  move  about  Independently 
of  their  mothers,  but  are  carried  about  by  them  in  a 
pouch  until  partially  grown.  True  mammals,  like  the 
cow,  the  horse,  the  dog,  the  cat,  and  the  ape,  appear 
only  at  a  much  later  age,  closely  bordering  upon  that 
of  Man.  Without  question,  man  is  the  last  of  this 
series,  and  fitly  closes  the  developing  scheme  of  natural 
creation  as  unfolded  to  us  in  the  leaves  of  the  geolog- 
ical record. 

Such,  upon  the  scientific  side,  is  the  line  of  the  par- 
allel with  which  the  story  of  creation  in  Genesis  is  to 
be  brought  into  comparison.  The  question  at  issue 
is.  Is  the  parallel  between  the  two  records  such  as  to 
exclude  chance  and  to  compel  us  to  acknowledge  the 
presence  of  design?  The  more  closely  one  studies  the 
problem,  the  less  can  he  be  satisfied  with  any  theory 
that  rules  out  the  idea  of  a  design  in  this  parallelism. 
It  could  not  have  been  a  matter  of  mere  chance  that  a 
writer  should  describe  the  order  of  creation  so  nearly 
in  accordance  with  the  discoveries  of  modern  science. 

In  proof  of  this  statement,  let  us  bring  the  Mosaic 
line  of  the  parallelism  briefly  before  us. 

I.  According  to  Genesis,  the  universe  was  brought 
to  its  present  condition  not  instantaneously,  but  by 
progressive  stages,  corresponding  in  a  remarkable  de- 


376  Genesis  and  Science. 

gree  to  the  actual  order  as  inferred  b}'  modern  science. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  surprising  that,  in  the  unscien- 
tific age  in  which  the  book  of  Genesis  originated,  a 
writer  should  have  spoken  of  the  creation  of  light  as 
taking  place  before  the  creation  of  the  sun  and  moon 
and  stars.  But  this  corresponds  with  recent  discov- 
eries of  science  which  have  ascertained  that  light  is  the 
result  of  chemical  action,  and  so  must  really  have  been 
one  of  the  earliest  accompaniments  of  the  creative  or 
developing  process,  and  must  have  long  preceded  that 
segregation  of  matter  which  constitutes  our  globe  and 
the  solar  system. 

2.  But  the  second  stage  as  mentioned  by  Genesis 
speaks  in  remarkable  terms  of  the  formation  of  a  firma- 
ment subsequent  to  the  formation  of  light,  and  previous 
to  the  appearance  of  dry  land, — a  firmament  separating 
the  waters  below  from  the  waters  above.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  choose  a  brief  statement  of  the  case  which 
should  more  happily  express  in  phenomenal  language 
that  stage  of  creation,  brought  into  view  by  modern 
science,  in  which  the  nebulous  matter  became  localized, 
and  segregated  into  revolving  systems,  such  as  the  as- 
tronomer now  delights  to  study.  But,  according  to  the 
writer  of  Genesis,  as  well  as  according  to  the  dicta  of 
science,  all  this  was  preliminary  to  those  physical  con- 


Genesis  ami  Science.  377 

ditions  which  would  render  possible  the  existence  of 
organic  life. 

3.  According  to  Genesis,  the  third  stage  of  progress 
■was  marked  by  the  appearance  of  dry  land.  Upon  the 
third  day,  also,  close  upon  the  appearance  of  dry  land, 
occurs  the  beginning  of  vegetable  life,  in  which  the 
characteristics  by  which  a  living  species  are  distin- 
guished from  an  inorganic  substance  are  most  clearly 
stated.  Inorganic  nature  has  no  inherent  power  of 
reproduction.  But  the  writer  of  Genesis  describes  a 
living  species  as  one  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  yielding  seed 
after  its  kind. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  to  this  account  of  the  crea- 
tion of  the  vegetable  kingdom  upon  the  third  day,  that 
it  describes  the  higher  species  of  plants,  which  are  in- 
troduced only  at  a  much  later  period,  namely,  the  grass 
and  the  fruit-trees ;  whereas  the  earliest  plants  belong 
to  a  much  older  order  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  A 
similar  objection  is  also  urged  against  the  account  of 
the  creation  of  the  dry  land,  since  that  has  been  going 
on  ever  since,  new  land  being  formed  even  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  As  a  most  satisfactory  reply  to  this  objection, 
we  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote  the  language  of  Dr. 
E.  P.  Barrows,  who  wrote  many  years  ago  as  follows : — 

"  In  our  view  Moses,  in  describing  the  creation  of 


378  Genesis  and  Science. 

the  vegetable  kingdom  on  the  third  day,  .  .  .  de- 
scribes neither  the  creation  of  the  particular  existing 
species  as  contrasted  with  the  extinct  species  of  former 
ages,  nor  of  these  extinct  species  as  contrasted  with  the 
species  now  existing.  But  he  describes  the  establish- 
ment of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  its  laivs  and  general 
forms,  which  are  valid  for  all  the  subsequent  geolog- 
ical eras.  The  grand  fact  revealed  is,  that  on  the  third 
day  the  vegetable  world  was  brought  into  being  under 
the  immutable  principles  which  now  regulate  its  oper- 
ations. And  we  ask :  Why  is  not  this  a  fair  interpreta- 
tion of  the  words,  '  and  the  earth  brought  forth  grass, 
the  herb  yielding  seed  after  its  kind,  and  the  tree  yield- 
ing fruit,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  after  its  kind?  '  The 
reader  will  notice  that  the  two  things  made  prominent 
in  this  account  are  laiv,  as  expressed  in  the  formula, 
after  its  kind,  and  general  forms,  '  grass,'  '  herb,'  '  fruit- 
tree  yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  is  in  itself.'  "  ^ 

Upon  the  same  point,  with  reference  to  the  crea- 
tion of  birds,  Mr.  Gladstone  has  the  following  perti- 
nent language: — 

"  No  doubt,"  he  says,  "  there  may  be  a  degree  of 
literalism  which  will  even  suffice  to  show  that,  as 
'  every  winged  fowl  '  was  produced  on  the  fourth  day 
of  the  Hexaemeron,  therefore  the  birth  of  new  fowls 
continually  is  a  contradiction  to  the  text  of  Genesis. 
But  does  not  the  equity  of  common  sense  require  us 
to  understand  simply  that  the  order  of  '  winged  fowl,' 
whatever  that  may  mean,  took  its  place  in  creation  at 


Genesis  and  Science.  379 

a  certain   time,   and   that   from   that  time  its  various 
component  classes  were  in  course  of  production?" 

4.  The  fourth  grand  stage  in  the  creative  plan  as 
described  by  the  writer  of  Genesis  relates  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  days  and  seasons  upon  the  earth,  through 
its  relation  to  the  sun  and  moon.  They  are  then  set 
in  the  firmament  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,  and  to 
rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to  divide  the 
light  from  the  darkness.  Up  to  this  point  we  may 
suppose,  from  scientific  data,  that  there  was  no  dark- 
ness upon  the  earth;  that,  though  the  earth  was 
surrounded  by  clouds,  they  were  luminous  clouds, 
everywhere  shining,  like  the  aurora  of  the  North,  from 
the  electrical  disturbances,  which  then  must  have  been 
so  abundant.  The  plants  of  the  coal  period  were  not 
necessarily  dependent  upon  either  the  light  or  the  heat 
of  the  sun.  It  is  only  the  higher  forms  of  plants  and 
animals  that  are  especially  adapted  to  this  periodicity 
in  the  return  of  both  heat  and  light  which  character- 
izes the  present  order  of  things.  When  the  earth's 
swaddling-band  of  clouds  was  all  one  blaze  of  electric 
light,  the  sun  did  not  divide  between  the  darkness  and 
the  light,  and  the  moon  and  the  stars  did  not  rule  over 
the  night.  This  turn  to  the  meaning  of  the  words 
seems  fully  justified  by  the  frequent  repetition  of  the 
object  for  which  the  sun   and   moon   and   stars  were 


380  Genesis  and  Science. 

"set  in  the  firmament"  (ver.  17).  This  was  to  be 
for  signs  and  seasons  and  days  and  years.  This  they 
could  be  only  when  they  became  visible  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth. 

5.  The  fifth  grand  stage  marks  the  introduction  of 
such  animals  as  swim  in  the  water  and  fly  in  the  air. 
Here,  too,  though  the  general  correspondence  with  sci- 
entific inferences  is  marked,  we  are  not  compelled  to 
suppose  that  every  class  of  winged  fowl  and  every  class 
of  sea  monster  were  actually  brought  into  existence 
during  that  period ;  for,  in  so  brief  and  so  summary  an 
account,  we  should  naturally  expect  that  some  things 
of  the  same  class  would  be  referred  to  by  anticipation. 

6.  The  sixth  stage,  according  to  the  writer  in  Gene- 
sis, brings  us  to  the  introduction  of  those  forms  of  life 
most  closely  connected  with  man,  namely,  the  cattle  and 
beasts  of  the  earth.  Here,  also,  was  the  appropriate 
place  to  mention  the  creeping  things,  since  the  age  of 
reptiles  is  joined  so  closely  to  that  of  the  mammalian 
forms  of  animal  life.  For  brevity's  sake  and  complete- 
ness, they  are  referred  to  by  retrospect,  in  order,  so  to 
speak,  to  glean  the  field,  as  the  higher  forms  of  fish  are 
referred  to  by  anticipation  in  the  account  of  the  fifth 
day.  It  is  a  capital  error  to  impose  upon  so  rhetorical 
and  brief  an  account  as  this  a  literalism  of  interpreta- 
tion   which    would    befit   only    an    extended    scientific 


Genesis  and  Science.  381 

treatise.  It  is  only  in  general  outline  that  correspon- 
dence can  be  expected.  Language  does  not  permit  all 
truth  to  be  compressed  into  a  single  paragraph. 

It  remains  to  discuss  the  question  whether  it  is  allow- 
able to  consider  the  word  "  day  "  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis  as  the  equivalent  of  long  periods  of  time. 
Upon  the  propriety  of  doing  this,  we  need  do  little 
but  quote  the  words  of  Dr.  Driver.  While  distinctly 
rejecting,  on  what  he  mistakenly  supposes  to  be  scien- 
tific grounds,  the  foregoing  plan  of  harmonizing  Gene- 
sis with  geology,  and  holding  that  the  word  "  day  " 
must  signify  a  literal  day.  Dr.  Driver  still  concedes  all 
that  is  necessary  upon  the  point.  His  language  is  as 
follows : — 

"At  the  same  time  the  possibility  must  be  admitted 
that  the  writer  may  have  consciously  used  the  term 
day  figuratively,  fully  aware  on  the  one  hand  that  the 
work  of  the  Creator  could  not  be  measured  by  human 
standards,  but  on  the  other  hand  desirous  of  artificially 
accommodating  it  to  the  period  of  the  week.  In  spite 
of  the  phrases  evening  and  morning,  which  seem  to  im- 
ply literal  daj^s,  the  supposition  that  the  narrator  meant 
his  '  days  '  as  the  figurative  representation  of  periods 
should  not,  as  the  present  writer  ventures  to  think,  be 
ruled  as  inadmissible." 

"  The    question,  however,  is  not  so  much  what  the 


382  Genesis  and  Science. 

word  means,  as  whether  or  not  it  may  have  been  ap- 
ph'ed  figuratively  by  the  writer.  It  seems  reasonable 
to  admit  that  this  may  have  been  the  case.  The  '  morn- 
ing '  and  '  evening  '  will  then  be  part,  not  of  the  reality, 
but  of  the  representation,"  * 

In  these  remarks,  Dr.  Driver  only  states  a  principle 
which  is  so  clear  as  not  to  need  repetition  or  emphasis, 
except  for  the  fact  that  ill-advised  statements  upon  the 
subject  have  frequently  been  put  forward  by  persons  in 
prominent  positions  who  assume  to  speak  with  author- 
ity. The  truth  is,  as  Dr.  Driver  clearly  perceives,  that 
the  meaning  of  such  terms  is  not  a  question  of  mere 
etymology  or  Hebrew  grammar,  but  of  the  broader 
questions  of  rhetoric,  upon  which  the  judgment  of  any 
well-informed  literary  person  is  of  about  as  much  value 
as  that  of  a  specialist  in  Hebrew.  Broad-minded  scien- 
tific men  like  Winchell,  Dawson,  Dana,  and  Guyot 
cannot,  by  good  rights,  be  warned  off  from  this  field, 
and  men  of  wide  literary  tastes  and  political  experience 
like  Gladstone  are  in  their  appropriate  province  when 
estimating,  from  general  considerations,  the  character  of 
such  a  document  as  that  containing  the  cosmogony  of 
Genesis. 

The  words  of  Gladstone  on  this  point  are  those  of 
experience  and  wisdom : — 

"  We  do   not  hear  the   authority  of   Scripture   im- 


renesis  an 


d  Science.  383 


peached  on  the  ground  that  it  assigns  to  the  Almighty 
eyes  and  ears,  hands,  arms,  and  feet;  nay,  even  the 
emotions  of  the  human  being.  This  being  so,  I  am 
unable  to  understand  why  any  disparagement  to  the 
credit  of  the  sacred  books  should  ensue  because,  to 
describe  the  order  and  successive  stages  of  the  Divine 
working,  these  have  been  distributed  into  '  days.' 
What  was  the  thing  required  in  order  to  make  this 
great  procession  of  acts  intelligible  and  impressive? 
Surely  it  was  to  distribute  the  parts  each  into  some 
integral  division  of  time,  having  the  character  of  some- 
thing complete  in  itself,  of  a  revolution,  or  outset  and 
return.  There  are  but  three  such  divisions  familiarly 
known  to  man.  Of  these  the  day  was  the  most  familiar 
to  human  perceptions ;  and  probably  on  this  account  its 
figurative  use  is  admitted  to  be  found  in  prophetic 
texts,  as,  indeed,  it  largely  pervades  ancient  and  modern 
speech.  Given  the  object  in  view,  which  indeed  can 
hardly  be  questioned,  does  it  not  appear  that  the  '  day,' 
more  definitely  separated  than  either  month  or  year 
from  what  precedes  and  what  follows,  was  appropriate- 
ly chosen  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the  idea  of  de- 
velopment by  gradation  in  the  process  which  the  Book 
sets  forth?"  ^ 

In  view  of  all  these  facts,  we  must  deem  it  by  no 
means  a  profitless  employment  to  study  the  lines  of  har- 
mony that  are  so  manifest  between  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  and  the  record  of  creation  as  found  in  the  in- 
ferences of  modern  science.     It  is  not  easv  to  believe 


384  Genesis  and  Science. 

that  this  scheme  of  reconciliation  is  altogether  the  child 
of  the  prepossessions  of  students  either  of  the  Bible 
or  of  nature.  It  is  true  that  the  evidence  is  not  demon- 
strative, in  the  strict  sense  of  that  word,  but  certainly  it 
is  impressive,  and  raises  so  high  a  degree  of  probability 
in  favor  of  the  divine  guidance  of  the  writers  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  as  materially  to  sustain  the 
respect  with  which  the  Bible  has  been  regarded  so  long 
by  the  Christian  public. 

In  the  words  of  President  Edward  Hitchcock,  writ- 
ten many  years  ago, — 

"  It  is  not  necessary  that  we  be  perfectly  sure  that 
the  method  which  has  been  described,  or  any  other,  of 
bringing  geology  into  harmony  with  the  Bible,  is  in- 
fallibly true.  It  is  only  necessary  that  it  should  be  sus- 
tained by  probable  evidence;  that  it  should  fairly  meet 
the  geological  difficulty  on  the  one  hand,  and  do  no 
violence  to  the  language  or  spirit  of  the  Bible  on  the 
other.  This  is  sufficient,  surely,  to  satisfy  every  philo- 
sophical mind,  that  there  is  no  collision  between 
geology  and  revelation.  But  should  it  appear  hereafter, 
either  from  the  discoveries  of  the  geologist  or  the 
philologist,  that  our  views  must  be  somewhat  modified, 
it  would  not  show  that  the  previous  view  had  been  in- 
sufficient to  harmonize  the  two  subjects;  but  only  that 
here,  as  in  every  other  department  of  human  knowledge, 
perfection  is  not  attained,  except  by  long-continued  ef- 
forts." « 


Genesis  and  Science.  385 

In  conclusion,  it  is  in  place  to  call  more  particular 
attention  to  the  scope  of  the  argument  which  may 
properly  be  drawn  from  the  wide  range  of  facts  pre- 
sented in  this  volume,  and  to  note  that  the  validity  of 
the  argument  is  not  impaired  by  the  fact  that  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  biblical  history  has  been  brought 
under  review.  Necessarily  the  most  of  the  history  is 
such  as  cannot  be  directly  substantiated  by  outside  evi- 
dence, and  can  be  accepted  only  upon  the  strength  of 
our  general  confidence  in  che  witnesses.  The  facts 
here  adduced  go  far  towards  establishing  confidence  in 
the  integrity  both  of  the  original  witnesses  and  of  those 
who  have  transmitted  the  testimony  to  us.  To  a  re- 
markable extent  in  this  field,  as  elsewhere,  the  apparent 
improbabilities  of  the  Bible  are  found  to  be  capable  of 
verification.  From  every  quarter,  unexpected  light  is 
breaking  in  upon  us  from  apparent  darkness.  The 
strength  of  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  historical 
statements  in  the  Bible  is,  therefore,  not  diminished, 
but  rather  is  increased,  by  modern  scientific  investiga- 
tion. 

The  historical  narratives  which  we  have  brought 
under  review  are  so  fitted  into  peculiar  and  little 
understood  physical  conditions  that  any  attempt  to  ex- 
pand the  simple  record  of  the  phenomena  would  have 


386  Genesis  and  Science. 

involved  the  v^^riters  in  statements  concerning  such  an 
inexplicable  network  of  physical  causes  and  effects 
that  they  would  have  inevitably  been  led  into  extrava- 
gant and  grotesque  representations.  The  freedom  of 
the  sacred  record  from  such  extravagance  and  gro- 
tesqueness  where  the  liability  to  such  error  was  at 
its  maximum,  certainly  goes  far  to  establish  its  credi- 
bility in  those  matters  in  which  corroborative  testi- 
mony is  unattainable.  The  competence  of  a  witness 
where  his  statements  can  be  verified  throughout  an  in- 
tricate environment  is  the  best  guarantee  we  can  have 
of  his  competence  when,  uncorroborated,  it  leads  us 
into  unknown  fields.  Those  who  reject  the  testimony 
of  the  sacred  writers  certainly  do  so  in  the  face  of 
evidence  that  is  ordinarily  accepted  as  conclusive. 


Appendix.  387 


APPENDIX. 


CHAPTER    I. 


Note  i,  p.  14. — This  subject  forms  the  burden  of 
Butler's  "Analogy,"  a  classic  work  that  is  too  much 
neglected  by  the  present  generation. 

"  In  questions  of  difficulty,  or  such  as  are  thought 
so,  where  more  satisfactory  evidence  cannot  be  had,  or 
is  not  seen,  if  the  result  of  examination  be,  that  there 
appears  upon  the  whole,  any  the  lowest  presumption  on 
one  side,  and  none  on  the  other,  or  a  greater  presump- 
tion on  one  side,  though  in  the  lowest  degree  greater, 
this  determines  the  question,  even  in  matters  of  specula- 
tion ;  and,  in  matters  of  practice,  will  lay  us  under  an 
absolute  and  formal  obligation,  in  point  of  prudence 
and  of  interest,  to  act  upon  that  presumption,  or  low 
probability,  though  it  be  so  low  as  to  leave  the  mind 
in  a  very  great  doubt  which  is  the  truth.  For  surely 
a  man  is  as  really  bound  in  prudence  to  do  what  upon 
the  whole  appears,  according  to  the  best  of  his  judg- 
ment, to  be  for  his  happiness,  as  what  he  certainly 
knows  to  be  so.  Nay,  further,  in  questions  of  great 
consequence,  a  reasonable  man  will  think  it  concerns  him 
to  remark  lower  probabilities  and  presumptions  than 
these;  such  as  amount  to  no  more  than  showing  one 


388  Appendix. 

side  of  a  question  to  be  as  supposable  and  credible  as 
the  other;  nay,  such  as  but  amount  to  much  less  even 
than  this.  For  numberless  instances  might  be  men- 
tioned respecting  the  common  pursuits  of  life,  where  a 
man  would  be  thought,  in  a  literal  sense,  distracted, 
who  would  not  act,  and  with  great  application  too,  not 
only  upon  an  even  chance,  but  upon  much  less,  and 
where  the  probability  or  chance  was  greatly  against  his 
succeeding"   (pp.  30-31). 

Note  2,  p.  22. — The  question  of  the  genuineness  of 
these  extracts  is  exhaustively  considered  by  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Mair,  D.D.,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Fourth 
Series  of  the  Expositor  (pp.  366-381),  from  which  it 
appears  that  General  Montholon  (who  was  the  con- 
stant companion  of  Napoleon  on  St.  Helena,  and  to 
whom  an  early  copy  of  the  book  from  which  these  quo- 
tations are  made,  was  sent,  in  1 841,  by  Chevalier  de 
Beauterne)  wrote  to  the  author,  "  I  have  read  with  a 
lively  interest  your  work.  Sentiment  de  Napoleon  sur 
le  Christianisme,  and  I  do  not  think  it  possible  to  ex- 
press better  th'e  religious  beliefs  of  the  Emperor."  On 
the  other  hand.  General  Bertrand  repudiated  the  sen- 
timents, and  spoke  of  them  as  a  "  libel,"  adding  that 
there  was  not  one  word  of  truth  in  them,  saying  fur- 
ther, "  Neither  in  France,  nor  in  the  army,  nor  in  the 
Island  of  Elba,  nor  in  St.  Helena,  have  I  heard  Na- 


Appendix.  389 

poleon  discussing  the  existence  or  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ"  (p.  371). 

The  explanation  of  this  contradiction  seems  to  be 
that  Napoleon  talked  more  freely  with  General  Mon- 
tholon  than  he  did  with  General  Bertrand.  The  lat- 
ter's  denial,  therefore,  has  little  weight.  There  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  substantial  correctness  of 
these  reported  conversations  of  the  Emperor. 

Note  3,  p.  22. — For  this  extract,  and  many  more  of 
similar  tenor  from  various  authors,  see  Philip  Schaff's 
"  Person  of  Christ." 

Note  4,  p.  24. — For  full  proof  of  this  statement,  see 
my  "  Scientific  Aspects  of  Christian  Evidences,"  chap. 
ix. 

After  long  contention  for  the  contrary  opinion,  even 
Harnack  was  at  last  compelled,  by  the  discovery  of  Ta- 
tian's  "  Diatessaron,"  and  various  other  lost  works,  to 
admit  that  the  New  Testament  writings  all  belonged 
practically  to  the  first  ceVitury. 

"  The  oldest  literature  of  the  Church  in  all  main 
points  and  in  most  details,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
literary  criticism,  is  genuine  and  trustworthy.  .  .  . 
The  chronological  succession  in  which  tradition  has 
arranged  the  original  documents  of  Christianity  is,  in 
all  essential  points  from  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
writings  of  Irenaeus,  correct,  and  compels  the  historian 


3go  Appendix. 

to  keep  clear  of  all  hypotheses  concerning  the  course  of 
events  which  conflict  with  this  succession." 

Note  5,  p.  30. — For  a  very  effective  presentation  of 
the  evidence  that  written  documents  were  in  use  among 
the  Israelites  from  the  earliest  times,  see  Orr's  very  able 
work  "  Problems  of  the  Old  Testament,"  pp.   71-81. 

CHAPTER    II. 

Note  i,  p.  40. — See  article  "  Primeval  Chronol- 
ogy," Bibliotheca  Sacra,  April,   1890,  pp.  285-303. 

Note  2,  p.  42. — This  whole  subject  is  treated  in  a 
convincing  and  masterly  manner  by  Professor  Willis  J. 
Beecher  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  April,  1899.  His 
statement  of  the  case  is  self-evidencing: — 

"  The  completed  Old  Testament  book  contains  more 
than  merely  the  extracts  which  the  final  authors  have 
made  from  their  sources.  It  gives  us  their  judgment, 
either  expressed  or  implied,  in  regard  to  the  relations 
between  the  sources,  and  the  proper  interpretation  of 
the  sources. 

"  In  proportion  as  the  book  is  held  to  difEer  from  the 
original  sources,  in  just  that  proportion  does  the  study 
of  an  Old  Testament  book  include  much  that  is  not 
included  in  the  original  sources.  The  men  who  put  the 
sources  together  had  a  very  important  part  in  the  au- 
thorship of  the  books.  To  ignore  their  part  by  paying 
exclusive  attention  to  the  sources  is  contrary  to  all  laws 
of  scientific  procedure." 


Appendix.  391 

■".  .  .  To  assume  that  the  original  sources  of  the  Old 
Testament  book  are  the  nucleus  within  which  inspira- 
tion is  confined  is  contrary  to  all  the  evidence.  The 
holy  men  that  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  were  as  often  the  secondary  as  the  primary  au- 
thors of  the  books.  To  neglect  the  book  as  a  whole, 
confining  attention  to  the  supposed  original  sources,  is, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  to 
neglect  a  part  of  the  revealed  mind  of  the  Spirit." 

"  .  .  .  .  Some  of  our  contemporaries  are  accustomed 
to  stigmatize  the  men  who  put  the  Old  Testament 
sources  together  as  '  uncritical.'  But  these  men,  who- 
ever they  were,  critical  or  uncritical,  constructed  lit- 
erary products  that  have  attracted  more  attention  than 
any  other  literature  for  from  twenty-two  to  thirty- 
three  centuries.  How  many  living  men  are  there, 
highly  gifted  critically,  whose  work  upon  other  men's 
writings  will  command  world-wide  attention  twenty- 
three  centuries  hence?  These  secondary  authors  of  the 
Old  Testament  books  did  their  work,  twenty-two  cen- 
turies and  more  ago,  in  such  a  way  that  hundreds  of 
scholars  now  living,  including  the  very  men  who  count 
them  uncritical,  find  it  worth  while  to  devote  thou- 
sands of  years  of  skilled  study  to  the  examination  of 
the  work  they  did.  In  view  of  this,  it  is  idle  to  say 
that  their  judgment  in  literary  and  historical  matters  is 
not  worth  considering.  However  they  may  have  lacked 
nineteenth-century  culture,  the  fact  that  their  work  is 
still  so  thoroughly  alive  is  conclusive  proof  that  they 
were  men  of  gifts  and  of  sound  mind.    They  had  foun- 


392  Appendix. 

tains  of  information  which  we  have  not.  In  particular, 
they  had  the  whole  of  certain  sources  of  which  we  have 
only  the  parts  which  they  transcribed.  Whatever  any 
may  think  as  to  the  question  whether  they  were  by  in- 
spiration guarded  from  mistakes,  or  as  to  the  degree  of 
their  trustworthiness,  the  statements  that  such  men 
have  left  on  record  are  at  least  worthy  a  deliberate 
examination.  We  owe  a  respectful  study  to  the  books 
as  they  left  them,  and  not  merely  to  the  sources  as  they 
found  them"   (pp.  218-220). 

Note  3,  p.  44. — According  to  Sayce, — 

"  The  proclamation  of  Cyrus  shows  that  he  was  not 
a  Zoroastrian  like  Darius  and  Xerxes,  but  that  as  he 
claimed  to  be  the  successor  of  the  Babylonian  kings,  so 
also  he  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  Bel-Merodach 
the  supreme  Babylonian  god.  Hence  the  restoration  of 
the  Jewish  exiles  was  not  due  to  any  sympathy  with 
monotheism,  but  was  a  part  of  a  general  policy.  Ex- 
perience had  taught  him  the  danger  of  allowing  a 
disaffected  population  to  exist  in  a  country  which  might 
be  invaded  by  an  enemy;  his  own  conquest  of  Baby- 
lonia had  been  assisted  by  the  revolt  of  a  part  of  its 
population ;  and  he  therefore  reversed  the  policy  of  de- 
portation and  denationalization  which  had  been  at- 
tempted by  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  kings.  The 
exiles  and  the  images  of  their  gods  were  sent  back  to 
their  old  homes;  only  in  the  case  of  the  Jews,  who  had 
no  images,  it  was  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple  which 
were  restored"  (Hastings'  Dictionary,  vol.  i.  p.  542). 


Appendix.  393 

Note  4,  p.  45. — Art.  "  The  Abasement  of  Neb- 
uchadnezzar," Bibliotheca  Sacra,  October,  1905,  pp. 
601-625. 

Note  5,  p.  48. — Pusey,  in  his  Lectures  on  Daniel, 
has  the  following  pertinent  remarks,  though  he  is  in 
error  in  calling  the  disease  lycanthropy: — 

"  There  is  scarcely  any  stronger  internal  evidence  of 
truth,  than  circumstances,  on  the  surface  unlikely, 
which,  on  careful  examination,  appear  to  be  in  harmony 
with  the  rest  of  the  history.  And  this  the  more,  when 
the  scientific  knowledge  of  that  truth  belongs  to  a 
later  age.  Thus,  in  secular  history,  Herodotus'  account 
of  the  circumnavigation  of  Africa  is  now  undoubted, 
because  of  the  fact  of  the  position  of  the  sun,  which  one 
would  not  have  known  who  had  not  crossed  the  line." 

"  So,  in  this  account  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  if  the  dis- 
ease was  some  form  of  Lycanthropy,  we  should  have 
an  account  of  a  rare  disease,  mentioned  by  no  author 
before  the  Christian  era,  with  physical  facts,  not  ob- 
vious, but  in  harmony  with  it ;  but  in  any  case,  and  still 
more  remarkably,  we  have  the  psychological  fact,  that 
one,  with  a  beast's  heart,  perhaps  imagining  himself  an 
ox,  any  how  in  a  very  degraded  form  of  insanity,  could 
still  pray  as  a  man.  .  .  .  This  is  related  in  Daniel  with 
the  simplicity  of  truth ;  ignorant  scepticism  pronounces 
it  impossible;  true  physics  and  psychology  attest  the 
reality  of  the  description." 

An  interesting  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  a 


394  Appendix. 

writer's  personal  unfamiliarity  with  the  scenes  involved 
in  his  descriptions  is  brought  to  light  appears  in  Dean 
Stanley's  criticisms  upon  two  poems  of  Keble's  "  Christ- 
ian Year."  In  the  verses  for  the  Third  Sunday  of 
Advent,  Keble,  in  describing  Lake  Galilee,  writes, — 

"All  through  the  summer  night 
Those  blossoms  red  and  bright 
Spread  their  soft  breasts,  unheeding,  to  the  breeze." 

In  the  early  editions  of  the  "  Christian  Year  "  a  note 
referred  to  these  blossoms  as  "  rhododendrons  " ;  where- 
as they  are  oleanders,  and  the  correction  is  made  in  later 
editions.  In  another  stanza  the  poet  speaks  of  "  moun- 
tains terraced  high  with  mossy  stone,"  which  is  a 
figure  familiar  enough  to  a  poet  living  in  the  moist 
climate  of  England,  but  inapplicable  to  the  bare  land- 
scape of  Palestine.  Again,  in  the  verses  on  the  Seventh 
Sunday  after  Trinity,  he  speaks  of  Tabor's  lonely 
peak,"  whereas  the  Mount  of  Precipitation,  Little 
Hermon,  and  Mount  Gilboa  are  all  within  three  miles 
of  it  and  easily  visible. 

Note  6,  p.  52. — All  this  is  put  in  a  very  clear  light 
by  Professor  Wilson  in  a  learned  article  in  the  Bible 
Student  and  Teacher  for  February,  1906.  He  says  in 
part : — 

"  No  one  knows  enough  of  the  reign  of  Nabonidus 


Appendix.  395 

to  assert  with  confidence,  or  truthfulness,  that  the 
statements  of  the  book  of  Daniel  with  regard  to  Bel- 
shazzar  may  not  all  be  historically  true. 

"  But,  how  then  about  his  being  called  in  Daniel 
the  son  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  whereas  Nabonidus  calls 
him  his  son?  No  doubt,  if  we  knew  all  the  circum- 
stances of  that  time,  we  could  explain  this  apparent  dis- 
crepancy with  satisfaction.  As  it  is,  who  knows,  first, 
that  Belshazzar  may  not  have  been  the  son  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar by  blood  and  the  son  of  Nabonidus  by  adop- 
tion ?  Or,  secondly,  that  the  mother  of  Belshazzar  was 
not  a  daughter  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  at  the  same 
time  the  wife  of  Nabonidus,  so  that  Belshazzar  would 
be  the  grandson  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  could  in  con- 
sequence thereof  be  called,  in  the  manner  of  the  He- 
brews and  Aramaeans,  his  son?  Or,  finally,  he  could 
be  called  the  son  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  the  same  sense 
that  Jehu  is  called  on  the  Assyrian  monuments  the  son 
of  Omri;  or  Xerxes  the  son  of  Cambyses  and  Cyrus, 
by  Herodotus  in  the  genealogy  of  Xerxes  given  in  Bk. 
vii.  1 1  of  Herodotus'  history,  i.e.  as  his  legitimate  suc- 
cessor on  the  throne,  without  regard  to  blood  rela- 
tionship." 

"  If  we  suppose  with  Pinches  (who,  it  seems  to  me, 
has  written  best  on  this  matter),  that  Darius  the  Mede 
was  the  same  as  Gobryas,  the  Bible  and  the  monuments 
will  be  in  entire  accord.  .  .  . 

"  Gobryas  was  Cyrus'  governor  {amel  pihate  su)  of 
Babylon  as  early  at  least  as  the  3d  day  of  the  8th 
month  of  Cyrus'  accession  year.      (Annals  of  Naboni- 


396  Appendix. 

dus,  Col.  iii.  line  20.)  He  was  in  command  on  the 
nth  of  the  same  month,  when  Belshazzar  was  slain. 
It  is  most  probable — there  is  nothing,  at  least,  against 
the  supposition — that  he  remained  in  command  and  at 
the  head  of  the  government,  until  Cambyses  was  in- 
stalled as  king  of  Babylon  on  the  4th  of  Nisan  of  the 
following  year.  The  only  question,  then,  is:  What 
would  be  the  title  in  Hebrew  and  Aramaic  of  Gobryas 
as  amel  pihate  of  Babylon?  In  answer,  we  can  only 
say,  that  malkatz  and  malek  (sarah)  would  be  the 
only  suitable  w^ords;  and  that  Gobryas  could  rightly 
be  called  by  this  title  as  long  as  he  was  amel  pihate  of 
the  city  or  province  of  Babylon,  i.e.  from  the  3d  of  the 
8th  month  of  Cyrus'  accession's  year  to  the  3d  of  Nisan 
of  his  first  year." 

"  But  some  will  say.  How  do  you  explain  the  differ- 
ence of  name?  The  easiest  explanation  would  be  to 
suppose  that  an  error  had  crept  into  the  Biblical  text. 
Still,  we  are  by  no  means  shut  up  to  this  explanation. 
Many  kings  in  ancient,  as  well  as  modern,  times  had 
two  or  more  names ;  especially  a  pre-regnal  and  a  regnal 
name.  The  great  Rameses  the  Second  (or  Usertesen  as 
Lethe  claims),  king  of  Egypt,  seems  to  be  the  same  as 
the  Sesostris  of  the  Greeks.  But  Sesostris  is  found  per- 
haps but  twice,  and  then  with  different  spelling,  among 
the  almost  innumerable  titles  and  monuments  of  this 
king.  (See  '  Le  Livre  des  Rois,'  by  Brugsch  and  Bouri- 
ant,  444.)  So  Solomon  is  the  same  as  Jedediah.  But 
coming  nearer  to  the  time  of  Cyrus,  we  find  that  Artax- 
erxes  was  called  Cyrus  before  he  became  king   (Jose- 


Appendix.  397 

phus)  ;  that  Darius  Nothus  was  called  Ochus,  before  he 
became  king;  and  the  last  Darius,  Codomannus.  Why 
may  not  the  name  Darius  have  been  assumed  first  of  all 
by  Gobryas  the  Mede,  when  he  became  king  of  Baby- 
lon ?  If  we  could  only  be  sure  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
word  Darius,  we  might  understand  better,  why  the 
name  was  given  or  assumed,  as  a  royal  or  princely 
appellation.  Who  knows,  that  Darius  is  not  the  trans- 
lation of  Gubaru?  Or,  that  if,  as  good  authorities 
claim,  the  first  part  of  the  name  is  the  same  as  the  new 
Persian  dar-a,  '  king,'  the  name  Darius  may  not  mean 
some  such  a  thing  as  regulus?  Or  if  the  name  be  derived 
from  the  old  Persian  verb  tar,  '  to  hold,'  who  knows 
that  it  was  not  originally  a  title  meaning  simply 
'  holder  of  the  scepter  '  ?  The  title  in  either  case  would 
be  appropriate  to  Gobryas  as  sub-king  of  Babylon,  and 
also  to  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  who  was  by  birth 
a  king,  second  in  rank  and  race  to  Cyrus  alone.  (See 
'  Behistun  Inscripten,'  lines  2  and  3.)"  (Pages  86-91.) 

Note  7,  p.  54. — For  a  very  interesting  and  able  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject,  we  are  indebted  to  an  article  on 
"  Biblical  Epidemics  of  Bubonic  Plague,"  in  the  Bihl'io- 
theca  Sacra  for  April,  1904,  by  Edward  M.  Merrins, 
M.D.,  from  whom  these  quotations  are  made. 

Note  8,  p.  54. — "  Antiq."  x.  i.  5. 

Note  9,  p.  54. — "  History,"  ii.  141. 

Note  10,  p.  56. — According  to  Dr.  Merrins, — 

"Almost  every  feature  of  this  narrative  fits  in  with 


398  Appendix. 

the  opinion  that  it  is  an  account  of  an  epidemic  of  bu- 
bonic plague. 

"  The  symptoms  of  the  disease  correspond  with  those 
of  plague.  The  sacred  historian,  not  writing  a  medical 
treatise  on  the  subject,  mentions  only  the  most  charac- 
teristic symptoms, — the  tumors  or  plague  boils.  But 
this  of  itself  is  enough  to  identify  the  disease.  '  No 
other  idiopathic  fever  attacking  a  multitude  of  persons 
at  the  same  time  is  characterised  by  glandular  swell- 
ings, by  carbuncles,  and  by  those  severe  manifestations 
of  the  nervous,  sanguineous,  and  biliary  systems  which 
declare  themselves  in  an  attack  of  plague.'  A  very  se- 
vere form  is  chiefly  marked  by  vomiting  of  blood,  as  in 
the  outbreak  on  the  Low^er  Euphrates  in  1873;  and  of 
the  Justinian  epidemic  Gibbon  writes:  'In  the  con- 
stitutions too  feeble  to  produce  an  eruption,  the  vomit- 
ing of  blood  was  followed  by  a  mortification  of  the 
bowels.'  It  is  very  interesting  to  observe  that,  accord- 
ing to  Josephus,  death  came  upon  the  Philistines  very 
suddenly:  '  For  before  the  soul  could,  as  usual  in  easy 
deaths,  be  well  loosed  from  the  body,  they  brought  up 
their  entrails,  and  vomited  up  what  they  had  eaten, 
which  was  entirely  corrupted  by  the  disease.'  In  the 
most  terrible  form  called  the  '  fulminant,'  people  are 
struck  down  very  suddenly,  and  die  before  the  tumors 
have  time  to  develop.  The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of 
Ekron  were  visited  by  this  tj'pe.  'And  the  men  of  the 
city  that  died  not  [immediately]  were  smitten  with 
tumors'"  (pp.  295-296). 


Appendix.  399 

Note  ii,  p.  66. — Keil's  "  Commentary  on  the  Book 
of  Joshua,"  page  264.  The  author  discusses  this  pass- 
age in  Joshua  at  great  length. 

CHAPTER    III. 

Note   i,  p.   70.— Brugsch's    "History    of    Egypt," 

vol.  i.  p.  304- 

Note  2,  p.  70.—"  The  Rational  Almanac,  tracing 
the  Evolution  of  Modern  Almanacs  from  Ancient  Ideas 
of  Time  and  suggesting  Improvements.  By  Moses  B. 
Cotsworth,  of  York,  England.  Published  by  the  Au- 
thor." 

Note  3,  p.  74. — Art.  "  Famine,"  Smith's  Diction- 
ary of  the  Bible,  vol.  i.  p.  611. 

Note  4,  p.  74. — Quoted  by  Mr.  John  Ward  in 
"  Pyramids  and  Progress,"  page  265. 

Note  5,  p.  76. — Ibid.,  pp.  266-267. 

Note  6,  p.  76.— Nature,  July  25,  1901,  page  38. 

Note  7,  p.  82. — "  The  Store  City  of  Pithom  and  the 
Route  of  the  Exodus,"  First  Memoir  of  the  Egyptian 
Exploration  Fund,  1885.  For  a  popular  account,  see 
Amelia  B.  Edwards's  "  Fellahs  and  Explorers,"  p.  50, 

Hengstenberg  long  ago  made  a  very  full  presenta- 
tion of  the  undesigned  correspondence  between  the  sa- 
cred narrative  and  the  known  facts  concerning  Egypt, 
which  has  been  well  summarized  by  President  Samuel 


400  Appendix. 

Colcord  Bartlett,  in  his  "  Veracity  of  the  Hexateuch  " 
(pp.  87-91). 

CHAPTER  IV, 

Note  i,  p.  85. — We  are  glad  to  be  supported  in 
these  statements  by  so  eminent  an  authority  as  Dr. 
William  Brenton   Greene,  Jr. : — 

"  Finally,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  tendency  of  the 
attempt  to  explain  many  of  the  events  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment formerly  regarded  as  miracles  as  special  provi- 
dence? We  may  not  say  that  this  is  a  tendency  to 
eliminate  the  Supernatural  from  the  biblical  history. 
Though  not  wholly  and,  therefore,  so  strikingly  super- 
natural as  the  miracle,  the  special  providence  implies 
as  evidently  and  as  necessarily  the  supernatural.  That 
the  coincidences  in  which  it  consists  should  be  the  re- 
sult of  chance,  rather  than  of  supernatural  prevision 
and  combination,  cannot  be  accepted  by  a  reflecting 
mind.  Chance  never  exhibits  purpose,  and  in  all  cases 
the  same  high  and  holy  purpose.  When  the  ship  turns 
from  her  course  just  as  a  rock  looms  up  before  her, 
it  does  not  weaken  our  conviction  that  a  pilot  is  at  the 
helm  to  learn  that  the  ship  has  been  turned  by  the  pres- 
sure of  her  rudder  against  the  waves.  The  question  is, 
How  came  the  pressure  then  and  there?  and  there  is  no 
satisfactory  explanation  but  the  directing  hand  of  the 
pilot. 

"  Nor,  again,  need  the  tendency  under  consideration 
be  hostile  to  the  miraculous.  It  will  not  be  so  long  as 
the  reality  and  the  necessity  of  the  miracle  are  still  af- 


Appendix.  40 1 

firmed.  The  number  of  miracles  may  be  reduced  in 
the  interest  of  correct  classification  quite  as  much  as 
in  the  interest  of  antisupernaturalism ;  and  if  the  former 
be  the  case,  the  position  of  the  miracles  remaining  will 
be  strengthened  rather  than  weakened.  In  the  end, 
every  concession  to  the  truth  will  add  a  buttress  to  the 
truth.  How  this  should  be  in  this  instance,  it  is  easy 
to  see.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the  biblical 
miracles  than  the  economy  with  which  they  are  used. 
This  is  so,  whether  we  conceive  of  them  as  strictly  as 
the  present  article  would  do,  or  loosely.  It  is  still  true 
that  they  occur  only  at  certain  great  and  decisive  epochs 
in  the  development  of  the  divine  plan  of  redemption, 
and  that  even  at  these  epochs  their  employment  is 
marked  by  sobriety  and  restraint  in  most  striking  con- 
trast with  all  alleged  extrabiblical  miracles."  (Art. 
"  The  Relation  of  the  Miracle  to  Nature,"  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  July,   1906,  pp.  555-556.) 

Note  2,  p.  100. — See,  also,  Dawson's  "  Egypt  and 
Syria,"  page  35. 

Note  3,  p.  loi. — Nature,  August  21,  1884. 

Note  4,  p.  103. — Upon  this  point,  see  Hull's 
"  Mount  Seir,  Sinai,  and  Western  Palestine,"  pp.  36- 
37;  Dawson's  "  Egypt  and  Syria,"  pp.  34-36. 

Note  5,  p.  105. — The  changes  of  level  in  the  re- 
gion of  the  Great  Lakes  have  been  carefully  investi- 
gated by  Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert,  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  who  concludes  thus: — 


402  Appendix. 

"  The  waters  of  each  lake  are  gradually  rising  on 
the  southern  and  western  shores  or  falling  on  the  north- 
ern and  eastern  shores,  or  both.  .  .  .  Eventually,  unless 
a  dam  is  erected  to  prevent.  Lake  Michigan  will  again 
overflow  to  the  Illinois  River,  its  discharge  occupying 
the  channel  carved  by  the  outlet  of  a  Pleistocene  gla- 
cial lake.  The  summit  in  that  channel  is  now  eight 
feet  above  the  mean  level  of  the  lake,  and  the  time  be- 
fore it  will  be  overtopped  may  be  computed.  Evidently 
the  first  water  to  overflow  will  be  that  of  some  high 
stage  of  the  lake,  and  the  discharge  may  at  first  be  in- 
termittent. Such  high-water  discharge  will  occur  in 
500  or  600  years.  For  the  mean  lake  stage  such  dis- 
charge will  begin  in  about  1,000  years,  and  after  1,500 
years  there  will  be  no  interruption.  In  about  2,000 
years  the  Illinois  River  and  the  Niagara  will  carry 
equal  portions  of  the  surplus  water  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
In  2,500  years  the  discharge  of  the  Niagara  will  be 
intermittent,  failing  at  low  stages  of  the  lake,  and  in 
3,500  years  there  will  be  no  Niagara.  The  basin  of 
Lake  Erie  will  then  be  tributary  to  Lake  Huron,  the 
current  being  reversed  in  the  Detroit  and  St.  Clair 
channels"  ("Recent  Earth  Movement  in  the  Great 
Lakes  Region,"  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  i8th  An.  Rep. 
(1896-97),  pt.  ii.  pp.  639-640). 

Note  6,  p.  106. — Report  of  the  United  States  Deep 
Waterways  Commission,  1896,  pp.  155-168.  The 
facts  are  more  fully  stated  in  my  "  Scientific  Aspects 
of  Christian  Evidences,"  pp.  122-124. 


Appetidix.  403 

Note  7,  p.  106. — Proceedings  of  the  Victoria  Insti- 
tute, vol.  xxviii.  pp.  267-280. 

CHAPTER   V. 

Note  i,  p.  143. —  In  the  Quarterly  Statement  of  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund  for  July,  1895,  will  be 
found  a  translation,  by  M.  Clermont-Ganneau,  of  an 
Arabic  account  of  a  similar  interruption  of  the  flow  of 
the  Jordan  twenty-five  miles  above  Damieh  in  a.d.  1276 
(quoted  in  full  by  Dr.  Bartlett,  "  Veracity  of  the  Hex- 
ateuch,"  pp.  361-363). 

Note  2,  p.  144. — Proc.  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  1896,  pp.  109-111. 

Note  3,  p.  145. — Dr.  Max  Blankenkorn,  "  Entste- 
hung  und  Geschichte  des  Todten  Meers,"  Zeit. 
Deutsch.  Palestina-Vereins,  vol.  xix.  p.  i. 

Note  4,  p.  150. — A.  Benj.  Thompson's  "  Oil  Fields 
of  Russia,"  pp.  14,  15,  from  which  we  cannot  resist 
taking  another  illustration: — 

".  .  .  Fountains  which  have  been  burning  nearly 
half  a  million  poods  a  day,  representing  a  loss  of  about 
one  hundred  pounds  per  hour  to  the  unfortunate  owner, 
have  not  been  uncommon  in  the  Bibi-Eibat  oil  field, 
and  for  a  whole  week  Baku  has  been  illuminated  with 
sufficient  brilliancy  to  permit  reading  in  the  streets  all 
night  in  the  result  of  the  glare  from  burning  fountains 
at  Bibi-Eibat,  several  miles  away.     In  one  fire  at  Rom- 


404  Appendix. 

any,  in  1898,  three  fountains  were  burning  simultane- 
ously; and  recently  in  1901,  a  fountain  of  the  Schi- 
baieff  Co.  at  Bibi-Eibat  burned  a  whole  week  before 
its  force  was  expended  and  it  could  be  extinguished.  In 
a  recent  disastrous  fire  in  the  Bibi-Eibat  oil  field  (au- 
tumn, 1903),  sixty-five  derricks  were  burnt,  besides 
numerous  reservoirs,  buildings,  and  over  10,000,000 
poods  [1,000,000  barrels]  of  oil;  and  at  one  time  as 
many  as  five  fountains  were  burning  simultaneously. 
One  fountain  burned  without  cessation  for  about  three 
weeks." 

Note  5,  p.   152. — With  this,  Sir  William  Dawson 

agrees.     See  his  "  Syria  and  Palestine,"  pp.  129-13 1. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Note  i,  p.  160. — The  translation  of  the  cuneiform 
tablet  is  by  Professor  Paul  Haupt,  as  quoted  by  Rev. 
C.  J.  Ball  in  "  Light  from  the  East"  (see  Records  of 
the  Past  (Washington,  D.  C),  vol.  i.  pp.  376-380). 

Note  2,  p.  176. — We  adopt  Petrie's  estimate  of  the 
cubit  as  22.5  inches.  The  ordinary  reckoning  of  17.75 
inches  would  reduce  the  figures  by  about  one-fifth. 

Note  3,  p.  176. — "Against  Celsus,"  iv.  41. 

Note  4,  p.  180. — Rev.  Joseph  B.  Davison.  See, 
also,  S.  E.  Bishop's  article,  "  Have  We  Noah's  Log- 
Book,"  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  July,  1906,  pp. 
510-517.  Dr.  Bishop's  suggestion  was  also  made  in- 
dependently by  Sir  William  Dawson. 


Appendix.  405 

Note  5,  p.  186. — We  have  taken  the  liberty  to  in- 
troduce, with  some  enlargement,  two  or  three  para- 
graphs from  the  author's  preliminary  treatment  of  the 
subject  in  his  "  Scientific  Aspects  of  Christian  Evi- 
dences," pages  141-142. 

Note  6,  p.  189. — The  late  Professor  Tayler  Lew- 
is's discussion  of  this  subject  is  still  highly  to  be  com- 
mended. See  Lange's  "  Commentary  on  Genesis," 
pages  316,  318. 

Note  7,  p.  190. — Bibliotheca  Sacra,  April,  1 890, 
pp.  285-303.  This  thoroughgoing  article  is  but  an 
•elaboration  of  a  discussion  of  the  subject  found  in  Dr. 
Green's  volume,  "  The  Pentateuch  Vindicated  from 
the  Aspersions  of  Bishop  Colenso  "  (New  York,  John 
Wiley,  1863).     Seepage  128. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Note  i,  p.  200. — See  pages  250  and  252  of  the  first 
•edition  of  "  Origin  of  Species  "  and  compare  with  the 
third  and  later  editions. 

Note  2,  p.  201. — See  Huxley's  "  Lay  Sermons  and 
Addresses,"  chap  xi.  pp.  242-246. 

Note  3,  p.  205. — A  perusal  of  the  most  recent  book 

•on  geology  by  Chamberlin  and  Salisbury  deepens  the 

impression  concerning  the  instability  of  the  earth's  crust 

.in  recent  geological  time.   Speaking  of  the  crustal  move- 


4o6  Appendix. 

ment  of  the  Pliocene  (the  period  which  culminated  in 
the  Glacial  epoch),  they  say: — 

"About  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  there  seems  to 
have  been  wide-spread  crustal  movements  in  most  parts 
of  North  America.  They  resulted  in  increased  height 
of  land,  and  the  time  of  active  erosion  which  followed 
is  sometimes  known  as  the  Ozarkian  or  Sierran  period." 

"  In  the  west,  there  were  notably  post-Tertiary 
movements.  The  plateau  region  was  in  process  of  up- 
lift, periodically,  throughout  the  Tertiary,  during 
which  it  has  been  estimated  to  have  undergone  an  ele- 
vation of  20,000  feet  (Dutton),  and  a  degradation  of 
12,000,  leaving  it  8,000  feet  above  sea-level.  .  .  .  The 
later  elevations,  largely  by  blocks,  were  so  recent  that 
the  fault  scarps  are  almost  always  ungraded  and  pre- 
cipitous, and  independent  of  stratigraphy  and  drainage." 

"  Near  the  Pacific  coast  notable  changes  marked  the 
closing  stages  of  the  Pliocene  and  the  transition  from  it 
to  the  Pleistocene.  In  some  parts  of  southern  Califor- 
nia (Fort  Frazer,  Los  Angeles  County)  marine  Plio- 
cene beds  are  said  to  occur  up  to  altitudes  of  6,000 
feet." 

"  On  the  whole,  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  must  be 
looked  upon  as  a  time  of  great  crustal  movement,  a  crit- 
ical period  in  the  history  of  North  America.  New 
lands  were  made  by  emergence  from  the  sea,  and  old 
lands  were  deformed  and  made  higher;  new  mountains 
were  made,  and  old  ones  rejuvenated ;  streams  were 
turned  from  their  courses  in  some  places,  and  nearly 


Appendix.  407 

everywhere  started  on  careers  of  increased  activity. 
The  Ozarkian  epoch,  the  transition  from  the  Tertiary 
to  the  Pleistocene,  was,  so  far  as  North  America  is  con- 
cerned, an  epoch  of  great  erosion.  The  fact  that  such 
notable  changes,  with  increased  elevation  of  land,  oc- 
curred during  the  epoch  next  preceding  the  glacial 
period,  led  to  a  wide-spread  belief  that  the  elevation 
was  the  cause  of  the  climate  of  the  latter  period  " 
("Geology,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  31 1-3 17). 

Note  4,  p.  211. — For  a  complete  summary  of  facts 
bearing  on  the  rate  of  subaerial  erosion,  see  Croll's 
"  Climate  and  Time,"  from  which  we  quote  as  fol- 
lows : — 

"  Professor  Geikie  finds  that  at  the  present  rate  of 
erosion  the  following  is  the  number  of  years  required 
by  the  undermentioned  rivers  to  remove  one  foot  of 
rock  from  the  general  surface  of  their  basins.  Pro- 
fessor Geikie  thus  shows  that  the  rate  of  denudation, 
as  determined  from  the  amount  of  sediment  carried 
down  the  Mississippi,  is  certainly  not  too  high.  Dan- 
ube, 6,846  years;  Mississippi,  6,000  years.  Nith,  4,723 
years;  Ganges,  2,358  years;  Rhone,  1,528  years;  Ho- 
ang  Ho,  1,464  years;  Po,  729  years"  (pp.  332-333). 

Note  5,  p.  215. — For  a  full  statement  of  facts  on 
this  subject,  see  J.  D.  Whitney's  great  work  on  "  The 
Climatic  Changes  of  Later  Geological  Times,"  pages 

133-134. 
The   latest   information,    amply  supporting   that   of 


4o8  Appendix. 

Professor  Whitney,  has  been  furnished  by  Mr.  Ells- 
worth Huntington.  See  "  No.  26,  Explorations  in 
Turkestan.  By  Raphael  Pumpelly,  W.  M.  Davis,  R. 
W.  Pumpelly  and  Ellsworth  Huntington  "  (Carnegie 
Institution  of  Washington). 

Note  6,  p.  216. — Calculating  the  area  of  the  Dead 
Sea  basin  south  of  Lake  Galilee  as  140  miles  long  and 
75  miles  broad,  its  area  is  10,500  square  miles.  Reck- 
oning the  rate  of  erosion  the  same  as  that  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  (one  foot  in  5,000  years,  which, 
notwithstanding  the  dryness  of  the  climate,  is  probably 
below  the  fact,  on  account  of  the  steep  gradient  of  the 
streams  and  the  violence  of  the  occasional  storms),  we 
obtain  an  accumulation  of  thirty  feet  in  5,000  years 
over  the  area  of  the  lake  itself,  which  is  forty-seven 
miles  long,  with  an  average  of  eight  miles  in  width.  As 
the  greatest  depth  of  the  lake  (1,278  feet)  is  only  in 
a  small  area,  it  is  a  liberal  allowance  to  reckon  the 
average  depth  at  one-fourth  this  amount,  or  about  300 
feet.  At  the  present  rate  of  deposition,  this  would  be 
filled  in  50,000  years. 

Note  7,  p.  217. — The  facts  concerning  changes  of 

level  during  the  Pleistocene,  or  Glacial  epoch,  are  thus 

stated  by  Chamberlin  and  Salisbury : — 

".  .  .  evidence  of  Pleistocene  changes  of  level,  as 
distinct  from  late  Pliocene,  are  not  wanting,  especially 


Appendix.  409 

near  the  coasts  and  about  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
From  the  evidence  at  hand,  it  appears  that  deformative 
movements  were  wide-spread  both  in  the  western 
mountains  and  in  the  area  covered  by  the  great  ice- 
sheets.  There  have  also  been  changes  of  level,  though 
probably  less  extensive,  in  the  non-glaciated  area  of  the 
southern  and  southeastern  part  of  the  continent. 

"As  already  noted,  some  of  the  islands  of  southern 
California  seem  to  have  risen  something  like  1,500  feet 
since  the  Pliocene.  Other  parts  of  the  California  coast, 
and  some  of  the  adjacent  islands,  have  been  subsiding 
during  the  same  period.  Near  San  Francisco,  the  sur- 
face is  thought  to  have  ranged  from  1,800  feet  below 
its  present  level  to  400  feet  above.  Walcott  has  esti- 
mated that  there  has  been  elevation  in  the  Inyo  Moun- 
tains of  California  to  the  extent  of  3,000  feet  during 
the  Pleistocene." 

"  In  general,  the  areas  covered  by  the  ice  of  the  gla- 
cial period  have  risen  since  the  ice  melted.  It  is  a 
tenable  hypothesis  that  the  rise,  or  some  part  of  it,  has 
resulted  from  the  melting  of  the  ice,  and  that  it  fol- 
lowed a  depression  occasioned  by  the  weight  of  the  ice. 
The  rise  of  that  land  has,  in  general  terms,  been  great- 
est where  the  ice  was  thickest"  (Geology,  vol.  iii.  pp. 
480-48 1 ) . 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Note  i,  p.  224. — These  estimates  of  land  areas  and 
elevations  are  taken  from  the  fourth  edition  of  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie's  "  Text-Rook  of  Geology,"  page  49. 


4IO  Appendix. 

That  the  above  estimate  of  the  depth  of  ice  over  the 
glaciated  area  of  North  America  is  conservative  w^ill 
appear  by  consulting  Chamberlin  and  Salisbury's  "  Ge- 
ology "  (vol.  iii.  pp.  327-502).  They  estimate  that  the 
continental  glacier  of  North  America  advanced  1,500 
or  1,600  miles  from  the  center  of  displacement  (p.  330). 

Note  2,  p.  226. — The  fullest  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  rate  of  increase  of  temperature  on  descending 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  to  be  found  in  Prest- 
wich's  "  Controverted  Questions  in  Geology,"  pages 
146-279.  His  conclusions  are,  that  the  average  rate 
of  increase  is  i  °  Fahr.  for  every  49.9  feet.  The  record 
of  the  deepest  w^ell  in  the  United  States  is  that  in  West 
Elizabeth,  Pa.,  twelve  miles  southeast  of  Pittsburgh, 
which  penetrated  to  a  depth  of  5,575  feet.  At  5,380 
feet  the  temperature  was  127°  Fahr.  an  increase  of  1° 
for  every  69.5  feet  (West  Virginia  Geological  Survey, 
vol.  i.  (a)  p.  104). 

Note  3,  p.  236. — See  Chamberlin  and  Salisbury's 
"Geology,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  517-519;  also  James  D.  Da- 
na's "  Manual  of  Geology  "  (4th  ed.,  1895),  P-  1012. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Note  i,  p.  239. — See  "  Ice  Age  in  North  America  " 
and  "  Man  and  the  Glacial  Period." 

Note  2,  p.  240. — See  art.  "  The  Raised   Beaches, 


Appendix.       -  4^1 

and  '  Head  '  or  Rubble  Drift,  of  the  South  of  England: 
their  Relation  to  the  Valley  Drifts  and  to  the  Glacial 
Period;  and  on  a  Late  Post-glacial  Submergence," 
Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society  (London) 
vol.  xlviii.  pp.  263-343 ;  art.  "  The  Evidences  of  a 
Submergence  of  Western  Europe,  and  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Coasts,  at  the  Close  of  the  Glacial  or  So-called 
Post-glacial  Period,  and  immediatelj^  preceding  the 
Neolithic  or  Recent  Period,"  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  vol.  clxxxlv. 
(1893)  A.  pp.  903-984;  "A  Possible  Cause  for  the 
Origin  of  the  Tradition  of  the  Flood,"  and  "  On  Cer- 
tain Phenomena  belonging  to  the  Close  of  the  Last 
Geological  Period  and  of  their  Bearing  upon  the  Tra- 
dition of  the  Flood"  (Macmillan  and  Company, 
1895). 

Note  3,  p.  240. — See  pages  149-162. 

Note  4,  p.  250. — Art.  "  Pacific  Coast  Earthquakes," 
Independent,  April  26,  1906,  pp.  956-958.  A  fuller 
report  by  Professor  Tarr  (and  Mr.  Lawrence  Martin) 
is  found  in  a  paper  entitled  "  Recent  Changes  in  the 
Yakutat  Bay  Region,  Alaska,"  Bulletin  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  America,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  29-64. 

Note  5,  p.  253. — See  Quarterly  Journal  of  Geology, 
vol.  iv.  ( 1 848 )  p.  90. 


412  Appendix. 

CHAPTER    X. 

Note  i,  p.  283. — Among  the  author's  publications 
of  the  results  growing  out  of  these  investigations,  the 
following  are  specially  to  be  noted :  "Asiatic  Russia  " 
(McClure,  Phillips  &  Company,  1902,  2  vols.,  pp. 
637)  ;  art.  "  Recent  Geological  Changes  in  Northern 
and  Central  Asia,"  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geolog- 
ical Society,  vol.  Ivii.  pp.  244-250;  "  Geology  and  the 
Deluge,"  McClure's  Magazine^  June,  1901,  pp.  134- 
139;  "  Origin  and  Distribution  of  the  Loess  in  North- 
ern China  and  Central  Asia,"  Bulletin  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  America,  vol.  xiii.  pp.  127-138;  "Ar- 
chaeological Notes  from  Sweden,"  Records  of  the 
Past,  November,  1905,  pp.  329-333;  "The  Ce- 
dars of  Lebanon,"  Records  of  the  Past,  July,  1906,  pp. 
195-204.  See,  also.  Professor  P.  Armaschevsky's  art. 
"  Human  Remains  below  the  Loess  of  Kief,"  Records 
of  the  Past,  September,  1902,  pp.  275-278. 

Note  2,  p.  297. — See  "Asiatic  Russia,"  vol  ii.  pp. 
485-516. 

Note  3,  p.  297. — See  Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlin's  re- 
port upon  the  "  Driftless  Area  of  the  Upper  Missis- 
sippi Valley,"  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  6th  An.  Rep.,  pp. 
278-307.  A  summary  of  facts  is  given  in  the  author's 
"  Ice  Age  in  North  America,"  chap.  xvi. 


Appendix.  413 

Note  4,  p.  301. — American  Journal  of  Science,  vol. 
clvfi.,  1879,  pp.  133-139- 

Note  5,  p.  310. — See  Sven  Hedin's  "  Central  Asia 
and  Tibet,"  vol.  i.  pp.  374-389- 

Note  6,  p.  313. — See  author's  art.  "  The  Cedars  of 
Lebanon,"  Records  of  the  Past,  July,  1906,  pp.  195- 
204. 

Note  7,  p.  318. — See  Professor  P.  Armaschevsky 
in  "  Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Committee  of  Russia," 
vol.  XV.  no.  I,  pp.  256-316,  being  a  report  upon  the 
geology  of  Poltava,  Charkov,  and  Obojan,  1903. 

The  region  described  lies  between  the  Dnieper  and 
Don  rivers,  and  is  partly  encroached  upon,  and  nearly 
surrounded  by,  the  glaciated  area.  With  the  retreat  ot 
the  glacier  to  the  north,  there  was  an  abundant  over- 
flow of  water  from  the  melting  surface  of  the  ice, 
which  would  bring  in  sediment  to  settle  in  all  the  de- 
pressions, and  tend  to  level  up  the  surface.  According 
to  Professor  Armaschevsky,  the  order  of  events  was : — 

"  First,  an  epoch  of  erosion,  with  a  cold,  moist  cli- 
mate, during  which  there  disappeared,  in  order,  man 
and  various  species  of  animals,  including  the  mammoth 
and  the  musk  ox.  Secondly,  a  period  of  a  more  mod- 
erate, dryer  climate,  when  the  loess  was  swept  off  into 
the  valley,  forming  extensive  alluvial  terrace  deposits 


414  Appendix. 

along  the  streams.  Thirdly,  a  second  period  of  erosion, 
with  a  moister  climate,  such  as  has  been  continued  to 
the  present  day." 

On  page  310  he  speaks  of  the  variation  of  the  erosive 
agencies  during  the  accumulation  of  the  loess  as  not 
attributable  to  a  single  cause,  "  but  to  a  diminishing 
moistness  of  clim.ate,  which  went  hand  in  hand  with 
the  retreat  of  the  glacial  ice-cap  to  the  north,  and  in 
connection  with  a  well-known  elevation  of  the  Black 
Sea." 

Professor  Armaschevsky,  however,  lays  great  stress 
upon  the  action  of  rivulets  in  transferring  the  loess 
from  higher  to  lower  levels,  and  does  not  give  the 
prominence  to  the  glacial  origin  of  the  loess  v/hich  the 
facts  would  seem  to  warrant.  He  instances  the  occur- 
rence of  the  loess  over  the  provinces  of  Poldolia, 
Bessarabia,  Kherson,  Ekaterinoslav,  and  Taurida  as 
evidence  that  it  is  not  always  due  to  glacial  action, 
since  the  region  lies  in  some  instances  a  hundred  miles 
outside  of  the  glaciated  area.  But  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  this  entire  area  was  subject  to  overflow  by  glacial 
streams. 

My  own  examination  of  the  region  leads  me  to  sup- 
plement Professor  Armaschevsky's  theory  about  as  fol- 
lows : — 


Appendix.  415 

During  the  Glacial  epoch  the  extensive  depression, 
most  evident  in  the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  affected 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  entire  region  covered  by 
the  ice  (which  extended  to  within  200  miles  of  the 
Black  Sea)  and  to  a  considerable  extent  the  Black  Sea 
region  itself.  There  was  thus  a  differential  depression 
of  the  country  to  the  north,  producing  slack  water  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Dniester,  the  Bug,  the  Dnieper,  the 
Donetz,  and  the  Don,  which,  hence,  were  periodically 
gorged  with  floods  of  enormous  extent,  overflowing 
their  banks  far  and  wide,  and  leaving  their  deposits 
in  the  still  water  of  the  consequent  lakelike  expansions, 
much  as  was  the  case  in  the  Missouri  Valley  (see  pp. 
334-347).  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  a  depression 
in  South  Central  Russia  that  was  below  sea-level,  as 
was  the  case  in  Scandinavia  and  Northern  Russia,  and 
probably  in  regions  immediately  adjoining  the  Black 
Sea.  But  the  changes  of  level  were  extensive,  and  such 
as  to  subject  both  men  and  animals  to  conditions  so 
unfavorable  that  they  all  alike  sooner  or  later  perished. 

Note  8,  p.  320. — "Through  Siberia,"  page  161. 

Note  g,  p.  320. — Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geolog- 
ical Society,  vol.  Ivii.  p.  249 

Note  10,  p.  321. — Art.  "  Recent  Geology  of  Spitz- 
bergen,"  Journal  of  Geology,  vol.  xiii.  pp.  611-616. 


41 6  Appendix. 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Note  i,  p.  324. — The  literature  concerning  the  gla- 
cial lakes  of  North  America  is  ver)'  abundant.  For  a 
summary,  see  my  "  Ice  Age  in  North  America,"  chap. 
XV.,  and  Chamberlin  and  Salisbury's.  "  Geology,"  vol. 
iii.  pp.  394-402.  More  detailed  reports  will  be  found 
in  E.  W.  Claypole's  art.  "  The  Lake  Age  in  Ohio," 
Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society  of  Edinburgh, 
1887;  Warren  Upham's  ''Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,"  U. 
S.  Geol.  Survey,  Monograph  XXV. ;  F.  B.  Taylor's 
"  Account  of  the  History  of  the  Great  Lakes,"  in 
"Studies  in  Indiana  Geography";  Dana's  "Manual 
of  Geology"  (4th  ed.),  page  982;  Frank  Leverett's 
"  Glacial  Formations  and  Drainage  Features  of  the 
Erie  and  Ohio  Basins,"  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  Mono- 
graph XLI. ;  H.  L.  Fairchild's  "  Glacial  Waters  in  the 
Finger  Lakes  Region  of  New  York,"  Bulletin  of  the 
Geological  Society  of  America,  vol.  x.  pp.  28-68. 

Note  2,  p.  344. — For  this  important  suggestion,  I 
am  indebted  to  Miss  Luella  A.  Owen,  of  St.  Joseph, 
Mo.,  whose  interest  in  the  subject  has  been  very  pro- 
ductive of  results.  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  boulders  of  Tuscumbia,  see,  in  the 
American  Geologist,  April,  1904,  Miss  Owen's  art. 
(pp.  223-228),  and  my  art.  (pp.  205-222). 


Appendix.  417 

Note  3,  p.  347. — This  important  discovery,  made 
by  Mr.  Martin  Concannon  while  excavating  a  tunnel 
underneath  his  residence,  w^as  first  recognized  and 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  public  by  Mr.  M.  C.  Long, 
of  Kansas  City,  Mp.,  who  has  presented  the  remains 
to  the  public  museum  of  the  city.  Their  glacial  age 
has  been  defended  by  Dr.  Warren  Upham  and  Professor 
N.  H.  Winchell.  The  latter,  after  three  extended 
examinations  of  the  region,  would  seem  to  place  the 
matter  beyond  doubt  in  his  extended  and  masterly  re- 
port, published  in  the  Jmerican  Geologist,  May,  IQ03, 
pp.  263-308.  My  own  conclusions,  after  several  visits, 
coincide  with  those  of  Upham  and  Winchell.  (See  art. 
"  The  Age  of  the  Lansing  Skeleton,"  Records  of  the 
Past,  April,  1903,  pp.  1 19-124.)  An  adverse  view 
assigning  the  deposits  to  a  somewhat  later  period,  but 
still  acknowledging  their  great  antiquity,  is  advocated 
by  Professors  Chamberlin,  Salisbury,  and  Calvin, 
American  Journal  of  Geology,  vol.  x.  p.  745  et  seq. 
A  still  later  discovery,  made  by  Mr.  Robert  F.  Gilder, 
in  the  summer  of  igo6,  would  seem  to  place  beyond 
question  the  fact  of  man's  contemporaneousness  with 
the  deposit  of  the  Missouri  loess.  The  geological  facts 
involved  are  discussed  in  the  Records  of  the  Past, 
February,   1907,  by  Professor  Erwin  H.   Barbour,  of 


41 8  Appendix. 

the  University  of  Nebraska.  The  discovery  consists  of 
numerous  human  bones,  somewhat  w^aterworn,  in  undis- 
turbed loess,  on  Long's  Hill,  between  150  and  200  feet 
above  the  bluff  of  the  Missouri,  near  Florence,  a  few 
miles  from  Omaha.  The  fullest  summary  and  discus- 
sion of  the  evidence  of  glacial  man  in  America  is  given 
by  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell  in  the  Records  of  the 
Past  for  May  and  June,   1907. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Note  i,  p.  368. — See  "  Studies  in  Science  and  Re- 
ligion," pp.  366-367 ;  also  "  Sermons  of  the  Monday 
Club  for  1 88 1,"  Introductory  Essay. 

Note  2,  p.  371. — See  art.  "Creation,"  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  April,  1885,  pp.  201-224.  For  earlier  articles, 
see  January,  1856,  pp.  80-129;  July,  1856,  pp. 
631-656;  April,  1857,  PP-  388-413;  July,  1857,  PP- 
461-524. 

Note  3,  p.  378. — Art.  "  The  Mosaic  Six  Days  and 
Geology,"  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  January,  1857,  pp.  61-98. 

Note  4,  p.  382. — Expositor,  January,  1886,  page  27. 

Note  5,  p.  383. — Nineteenth  Century,  November, 
1885,  p.  698. 

Note  6,  p.  384. — "  Religion  of  Geology,"  page  63. 


INDEX, 

Abbot,  Maj.-Gen.  H.  L.,  cited,  211. 

Accommodation,  theory  of,  24. 

Adria,  212. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  cited,  374. 

Ahab,    relations    of,    to    Ben-hadad,    58 ;    to   Assyria,    58 ;    to 

Syria,  59. 
Alaska,  250,  411. 
Almanac,  importance  of,  70. 

Alphabet,  Phoenician  introduced  into  Palestine,   158. 
America,  changes  of  level   in  North,  205,  217,  321,   323,   341, 

402,  406,  409. 
America,  North,  Deluge  in,  chapter  on,  323-367. 
Amraphel.    See  Khammu-rabi. 
Animals,  destruction  of,  238,  345,  352,  358;   creation  of,  373; 

order  of  creation,  374. 
Anthropomorphism,   34. 
Ararat,  position  of,   176. 
Arioch,  157. 

Ark,  dimensions  of,   175. 
Armaschevsky,   P.,   on   human    remains   below   the   loess,"  318, 

412;  on  distribution  of  loess  in  Russia,  412,  413-415. 
Aryan  language,  center  of,  314. 
Asia,  205 ;    excursion   across,  227 ;    post-glacial   subsidence  of, 

228  ;  Deluge  in,  chapter  on,  283-322. 

Babylon,  capture  of,  43,  49. 

Baku,  oil-fields  of,  146-150,  403. 

Baldwin,  Esq.,  S.  Prentiss,  quoted,  138. 

Ball,  Dr.,  discovers  Canadian  boulders  at  Tuscumbia,  335. 

Barbour,  Prof.  E.  H.,  on  the  Nebraska  man,  418. 

Barrows,    Prof.    E.    P.,    quoted,    377. 

Bartlett,   Pres.    S.    C,   cited,   399,   403. 


420  Index. 

Beauterne,  Chevalier  de,  cited,  388. 

Beecher,  Prof.  Willis  J.,  quoted,  390. 

Belshazzar,  relation  of,  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  48,  395 ;  to  Nabon- 

idus,  48,  395. 
Berosus,  his  account  of  the  Deluge,   172. 
Bertrand,   General,  cited,   388. 
Bibi-Eibat,   burning  oil-well    at,  403. 
Birds,  creation  of,  380. 
Bishop,  Dr.  S.   E.,  cited,  404. 
Blankenkorn,   Max,  cited,  403. 
Brugsch,   H.   K.,   cited,    399. 

Buckland,  Dean  William,  on  ossiferous  fissures,  256. 
Buried  channels,  218. 
Butler,   Bishop,   quoted,   387. 

Calais,   France,   241,  247. 

California,  204,  250,  409. 

Crlvin,  Prof.  Samuel,  cited,  417. 

Captivity,  return  from,  42,  43. 

Cartography,    exaggerations   in,    37. 

Cascades,  the,  132-141. 

Catastrophism  in  geology,  199. 

Cedars   of   Lebanon,   313. 

Chaloof,  95. 

Chamberlin,  Prof.  T.  C,  on  instability  of  the  earth's  crust, 
405-407,  408;  on  depth  of  the  ice  in  the  Glacial  epoch,  410; 
cited,  412,  416,  417. 

Champlain  period,  323. 

Chazy,    N.    Y.,    331. 

Chedor-laomer,   157. 

Chicago,  glacial  outlet  at,  330. 

Chili,   204. 

Christ,  an  historical  character,  3  ;  the  center  of  Christianity, 
15;  sublimity  of,  20;  rules  the  world  by  love,  21;  not  an 
imposter,  22;  or  the  product  of  imposture,  23;  or  of  legen- 
dary growth,  24 ;   indorses  the  Old  Testament,  27-29. 


Index.  421 

Christianity,  character  of,  3  ;  proof  of,  4;  certainty  of,  13  ;  his- 
torical evidences  of,  14-26;  in  the  second  century,  19; 
sublimity  of,  20;  not  the  fruit  of  imposture,  22;  nor  of 
legendary  growth,  23  ;  nor  of  delusion,  24. 

Cincinnati,  glacial  floods  at,  329. 

Claypole,  Prof.  E.  W.,  on  Lake  Ohio,  327,  416. 

Clermont-Ganneau,    C.    S.,  cited,  403. 

Concannon,  Mr.  Martin,  417. 

Connecting  links  of  the  argument,  41. 

Cotsworth,  Mr.   Moses  B.,  on  the  object  of  the  pyramids,  70, 

399- 
Council  Bluffs,  343. 
Croll,  James,  quoted,  407. 
Cuneiform  tradition  of  the  Deluge,  161-174. 
Cyprus,  Island  of,  103. 
Cyrus,  character  of,  43  ;   policy  of,  392. 

Damascus,  123. 

Damieh,   403. 

Dana,  Prof.  J.  D.,  cited,  211,  410;  on  the  Champlain  period, 
323;  on  Genesis  i.,  370;  on  the  order  of  creation,  372-375, 
418. 

Daniel,  historical  setting  of  the  book  of,  43-52. 

Darius  the  Mede,   50. 

Darius,  meaning  of  the  word,  51. 

Darwin,  Charles,  on  the  rate  of  erosion,  200;  on  the  destruc- 
tion  of  species,   352. 

Davis,  Prof.  W.  M.,  on  glaciers  of  Central  Asia,  300;  cited, 
407. 

Davison,  Rev.  Joseph,  quoted,  180;  cited,  404. 

Dawson,  Sir  William,  cited,  98,  iii,  382. 

Day,  meaning  of,  in  Genesis  i.,  381-383. 

Deluge,  traditions  of  the  Noachian,  chapter  on,  159-197; 
comparison  with  other  traditions,  160-175;  traditions  criti- 
cised, 175-179;  duration  of,  179,  183;  extent  of,  184-189; 
object  of,  184;  date  of,  189-197;  scientific  credibility  of  the, 


422  Index. 


chapter  on,  198-219;  in  Europe,  chapter  on,  238-282;  in 
Asia,  chapter  on,  283-322;  nature  of  the  evidence,  239;  in 
North  America,  chapter  on,  323-367;  destruction  of  spe- 
cies b}',   345. 

Denver,  elevation  of,  205,  206. 

Deuteronomy,  attributed  to  Moses,  31. 

Diatessaron  of  Tatian,  19,  389. 

Driver,  Prof.  S.  R.,  en  the  meaning  of  "  day  "  in  Genesis  i., 
381,   382. 

Dunes  below  the  "  head,"  245,  254. 

Dutton,  Major  C.  E.,  132. 

Earth,  plasticity  of,  225 ;   interior  temperature  of,  226,   372. 

Earthquakes,  effects  of,  126-130,  141,  250;  in  Lisbon,  250; 
in  San  Francisco,  250;    in  Alaska,  250. 

East    Brighton,    241,    242,    244. 

Edwards,  Amelia  B.,  cited,  399. 

Egypt,  Israel  in,  chapter  on,  67-82;  famines  of,  70;  vacil- 
lations of  the  government  of,  79. 

Ekron,  398. 

Elephants  in  Europe,  219. 

Emerson,   Prof.   B.    K.,    quoted,    144. 

Emmons,  Mr.   S.  F.,  quoted,  136. 

Equation,  personal,  68. 

Erosion,   rate   of,  211;   of   limestone,   233. 

Esdraelon,  valley  of,  122,  125. 

Etham,    95. 

Europe,  changes  in  level  of  northwestern,  218 ;  Deluge  in, 
chapter  on,  238-282;  destruction  of  animals  in,  356. 

Evidence,   circumstantial,    116;    scientific,    117. 

Evolution  in  geologj-,  199. 

Exodus,  the,  chapter  on,  83-117. 

Fairchild,  Prof.  H.  L.,  cited,  416. 

Falls  of  Niagara,  229,  234;  of  St.  Anthony,  230,  234. 

Famines  in  Egypt,  70,  73,  74;  causes  of,  74-79. 


Index.  423 

Fish,  creation  of,  380. 

Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  glacial  outlet  at,   330. 

Fraas,  Dr.  Oscar,  cited,  98,  99. 

Free-will   a  force,  84. 

Fundy,  Bay  of,  207. 

Gaudrj',  Prof.  A.,  cited,  260. 

Geikie,  Sir  Archibald,  cited,  409. 

Geikie,  Prof.  James,  on  the  loess,  274,  298 ;  cited,  407. 

Genealogical  tables,  40,  191;  condensation  of,  192;  structure 
of,  in  Genesis,  195. 

Genesis    and    Science,    chapter   on,    368-386. 

Geological  forces  not  uniform,  200;  movements  relatively 
slight,   204;    recent   great   changes,   207,   215. 

Gibraltar,  Rock  of,  262,  263,  267. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  quoted,  398. 

Gilbert,  Dr.  G.  K.,  on  Lake  Bonneville,  333;  on  changes  of 
level   of   lakes,   401. 

Glacial  epoch,  changes  of  level  during,  205,  217;  as  a  vera 
causa,  chapter  on,  220-237;  cause  of,  220;  depth  of  ice  in, 
221 ;  weight  of  the  ice  of  the,  223 ;  attraction  of  the  ice, 
224;  depression  of  land  caused  by  the,  225;  limited  in 
Asia,  228,  284;  recency  of,  229-235;  in  Mt.  Lebanon,  313; 
boundary  in  North  America,  324;  floods  in  the  Ohio,  328; 
outlet  at  Fort  Wayne,  330;  floods  in  the  Missouri  Valley, 
334-345;  boundary  in  Missouri  and  Kansas,  336. 

Gladstone,  Hon.  William  E.,  quoted,   378,   382. 

Gobi,  Desert  of,  214,  300,  309;   filled  with  water,  310. 

Gobryas    equals   Darius   the    Mede,    51,    395. 

Gomorrah.  S^^  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

Gospels,    synoptic,    date    of,    24. 

Graphite   of    vegetable    origin,    373. 

Green,  Prof.  William  H.,  on  primitive  chronolog}',  40,  190- 
197,    405. 

Greene,    Dr.   William   B.,    quoted,    400. 


424  Index. 


Guernsey,  Island  of,  275,  276,  278. 

Guyot,  Prof.  Arnold,  on   Genesis  i.,   371,  382. 

Harnack,  Dr.  Adolf,  cited,  389. 

Haupt,  Dr.  Paul,  his  translation  of  the  cuneiform  tablet,  404. 

"  Head."     See  Rubble  Drift. 

Hedin,  Sven,  cited,  413. 

Hengstenberg,   E.   W.,  cited,   399. 

Herculaneum,  destruction  of,  202,  203. 

Herodotus,  393,  395,  his  account  of  the  destruction  of  Sen- 
nacherib's army,  54. 

Hezekiah's    tribute    to    Sennacherib,    57. 

Hippopotamus   in  Sicily,   219,  265. 

Historical  evidence,  certainty  of,  4,  13,  385;  of  Christianity, 
14-26. 

Historical   language,  interpretation  of,  33-39,   68. 

Historical   perspective,   39. 

History,  condensed,  39;  fragmentary,  40. 

Hitchcock,  Pres.  Edward,  quoted,  384. 

Hoist,  Dr.  N.  O.,  on  glacial  origin  of  loess,  298,  302. 

Hopkins,  W.,  on  force  of  moving  water,  254. 

Howorth,  Sir  Henry,  on  the  flood,  274. 

Hull,  Prof.   Edward,  quoted,  99-101,   102,   103  ;   cited,  401. 

Human   nature,  limitations   of,   119. 

Humphreys,  Gen.  A.  A.,  cited,  211. 

Huntington,  Mr.  Ellsworth,  on  the  glaciers  of  Central  Asia, 
300;    cited,    407. 

Huxley,  Prof.  T.  H.,  cited,  405. 

Interpretation   of   rhetorical   language,   34,    115;   of  condensed 
history,    40,    184,    187;    of    hyperbolical    language,    68,    187. 
Ismailia,    95. 

Jaffa,  100. 

Jebel    Attaka,    109,    no. 

Jebel  Geneffeh,   no,    112. 


Index.  425 


Jebel   Usdum,  145. 

Jehoram,  co-regent,  49. 

Jehu,  called  son  of  Omri,  49,  61,  395.  ' 

Jericho,  falling  of  the  walls  of,   126-130;   geological  position 

of,  129. 
Jersey  Islands,  loess  on,  275. 

Jewish  history,  middle  and  later,  chapter  on,  33-66. 
Jordan  Valley,  great  "fault"  of  the,  120,  126. 
Joseph,  career  of,  78. 
Josephus,    his    account    of    the    destruction    of    Sennacherib's 

army,   54;    of  the  Philistines,   398. 
Joshua  commands  the  sun  to  stand  still,  64;  military  strategy 

of,    124. 
Jotham,    co-regent,    49. 
Judges,  brevity  of  the  book  of,  63. 

Kalgan,  China,  loess  near,  293. 

Kansas    City,    342. 

Keble,  Rev.  John,  cited,   394. 

Keil,   Dr.    Karl   F.,  on  Joshua,   65,   399. 

Kettle-holes,    231. 

Keyes,  Prof.  C.  R.,  on  raised  beach  in  the  Crimea,  317. 

Khammu-rabi,  Laws  of,   155;   the  same  as  Amraphel,   156. 

Kief,  human  remains  under  the  loess  at,  318,  319. 

Kitchin,    Dr.    F.    L.,    quoted,    97. 

Kleber,   General,  123. 

Lachish,   situation   of,    53. 
Lakes. 

Agassiz,  331. 

Algonquin,   331. 

Baikal,  208  ;   Arctic  seal  in,  305. 

Balkash,  305. 

Big  Stone,  332. 

Bitter,  95. 

Bonneville,  332. 


426  Index. 

Lakes. 

Erie,  effect  of  wind  upon  water  levels  in,  106. 

Galilee,  121,  215,  394,  408. 

Glacial,  231,  324-345- 

Grand  Traverse,  332. 

Great,  401. 

Great  Salt,  214,  332. 

Huleh,  121. 

Huron,  402. 

Lahontan,  334. 

Many'tch,  an  old  outlet  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  307. 

Michigan,  402. 

Ohio,  327. 

Timsah,  95. 

Victoria,   77. 

Warren,  330. 
Land-slides,  138,   140,  141. 
Lang,    Dr.    John    P.,    cited,   405. 
Lansing,   Kan.,   345. 
Lartet,    E.,    quoted,    100. 
Lattakia,   raised  beach   at,   loi. 
Lawson,   Prof.   A.   C,   quoted,   127. 
Level,  changes  in  land,  105,  204;  about  the  Great  Lakes,  105; 

water  affected  by  wind,  106;  Erie,  106;  causes  the  Deluge, 

177;  around  the  Black  Sea,  315. 
Level  of  land,  changes  in,  204,  216-219,  240,  321,  323,  340. 
Leverett,  Mr.  Frank,  cited,  416. 
Lewis,   Prof.   Tayler,  cited,  405. 
Light,  creation  of,  372,  376. 

Loess,   description  of,  272,  297;   in  Europe,  272;   in  the  Mis- 
souri Valley,  272,  297,  342;  in  Russia,  273,  298;   in  China, 

273,  284;  in  Central  Asia,  273;  in  the  Chinese  Sea,  277;   in 

pass  of  Nankau,  288;  at  Shiwantse,  294;  of  glacial  origin, 

298;   in  the  Desert  of  Gobi,  310;   at  Kief,  318;  land-shells 

in,   343. 
Log-book  of  Noah,  180-189. 


Index.  427 

Long,  Mr.   M.  C,  cited,  417. 

Lot's  wife,  fate  of,   151. 

Lydda,  raised  beach  at,  100. 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  geological  theories  of,  199. 

Mair,  Rev.  Alexander,  quoted,  388. 

Mammoth  in   Siberia,  348. 

Manchuria,  no  glacial  epoch  in,  228. 

Man,    creation    of,    375,    380. 

Martin,  Mr.  Lawrence,  cited,  411. 

Martinique,  204. 

Martyr,  Justin,  testimony  of,   19. 

Merrins,  Dr.  Edward   M.,  on  Nebuchadnezzar's  malady,  45; 

on  the   destruction  of   Sennacherib's   army,    53,   397;   of  the 

Philistines,  55. 
Mesha,    king   of    Moab,    641. 
Mice.       ^ee  Rats  and  Mice. 
Miller,  Hugh,  cited,  186. 

Miracles  and  natural  laws,  84-87;  enumerated,  86,  119. 
Moabite  Stone,  the,  6i. 
Mokattam    Hills,    99. 
Mongolia,  no  glacial  epoch  in  Eastern,  227;  loess  in  Eastern, 

291. 
Montholon,  General,  cited,  388. 
Montreal,   changes   in   level    at,   205. 
Moon,  set  as  a  sign  of  seasons,  379. 
Moses,  author  of  the  Pentateuch,  26-32;   Song  of,  91. 
Mountains. 

Alps,   recent   elevation  of,  204. 

Altai,   glaciers   in,   312. 

Andes,  204. 

Gilboa,  394. 

Himalayas,   204. 

Lebanon,   121,  313. 

Little  Hermon,   394. 

Pyrenees,  204. 


428  Index. 


Mountains, 
Rocky,  204. 
Tabor,  122,  394. 

Tian  Shan,  227;   glaciers  in  300,  312. 
Vesuvius,  203. 

NaboniduSj  career  of,  48  ;  elasticity  of  the  phrase  son  of,  49, 

395- 
Nankau,  loess  in  pass  of,  287,  288. 
Napoleon,   his  testimony  concerning  Christianity,   20,  388;  on 

the  strategic  unimportance  of  Jerusalem,  123. 
Nature  defined,  84. 

Naville,  Edouard,  on  the  store  cities  of  Pithom,  82. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  character  of,  45  ;   abasement  of,  46,  393  ;  his 

restoration  to  sanity,  47. 
Newberry,  Prof.  J.  S.,  quoted,   138. 
New  Orleans,  211. 

New  Testament,  witness  of  the,  chapter  on,  3-32. 
Niagara  Falls  as  a  glaciometer,  229,  234. 
Norway,  changes  in   level   of,   218. 

Oberlin,   Ohio,   glacial   phenomena   in,   232. 

Old  Testament,  indorsed  by  the  New,  26-31;  a  unity,  41. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  343. 

Omnipotence  of  God,   86. 

Orr,  Dr.  James,  cited,  390. 

Orton,  Prof.  Edward,  quoted,   146. 

Ossiferous  fissures,  256-272;   breccia  in,  257;   animal   remains 

in,  257;   at  Santenay,  France,  259;  theories  of,  258-265;   at 

Gibraltar,  262;   at  Palermo,  265. 
Owen,  Miss  Luella  A.,  on  loess  of  the  Missouri  Valley,  346, 

416. 

Palermo,  hippopotamus  bones   at,  265. 

Palestine,  physical  preparation  for  Israel  in,  chapter  on,  118- 

158;    central    position    of,    120,    125;    geology    of,    121,    144, 

Phoenician  alphabet  introduced  into,   158. 


Index.  429 


Parsimony,  law  of,  119. 

Peking,  loess  on  plain  of,  286. 

Pentateuch  indorsed  by  Christ  as  a  whole,  29;  a  written  doc- 
ument,  30. 

Perspective,  in  history,  36;  in  cartography,  37;  in  painting,  38. 

Petrie,   Dr.   Flinders,  cited,  404. 

Petroleum  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  144,  145,  150;  in  the  United 
States,  146;  in  Southern  Russia,  148;  burning  fountains  of, 
150,  403. 

Philistine  epidemic,  55,  398;   agency  of  mice  in,  56. 

Pi-hahiroth,  108,  109. 

Pinches,  Dr.  T.  G.,  cited,  157,  395. 

Pithom,  80,  82. 

Plague,  bubonic,   53;   destructivity  of,   55;   symptoms  of,  398. 

Plants,  creation  of,  373,  377. 

Poetical   license,   34. 

Polytheism  counteracted  by  Genesis  i.,  368. 

Pompeii,  destruction  of,  202,  203. 

Poole,  Edward  S.,  on  Egyptian  famines,  73. 

Post,  Rev.  George,  quoted,   loi. 

Prestwich,  Prof.  Joseph,  on  the  Deluge,  240-282;  on  the  rub- 
ble drift,  241-256;  on  ossiferous  fissures,  256-272;  on  loess, 
272-282;  on  temperature  of  the  earth  below  the  surface,  410. 

Proof,  scientific,  6,  12,  83,  94,  117;  burden  of,  16,  32,  42; 
moral,  18;  circumstantial,  83,  94. 

Pumpelly,  Raphael,  on  Chinese  loess,  293 ;  on  transporting 
power  of  wind,  300;  cited,  407. 

Pumpelly,  R.  W.,  cited,  407. 

Pusey,  Dean,  cited,  394. 

Pyramids,  object  of,  70;   raised  beach  near,  97. 

Raised  beaches  in  Egypt,  97;  in  Syria,  100,  loi ;  on  island  of 
Cyprus,  102;  in  Scandinavia,  205,  219;  in  Southern  Eng- 
land, 242,  244,  245,  254;  on  the  Jersey  Islands,  275;  around 
the  Black  Sea,  317;  on  the  Lena  River,  320;  in  Spitzbergen, 
320;  on  Lake  Erie,  330;  at  Chazy,  N.  Y.,  331. 


430  Index. 

Rameses,  80,  82,  88. 

Ramleh,  raised  beach  at,  100. 

Rats  and  mice,  agency  of,  in  bubonic  plagues,  54-56. 

Richthofen,  Baron,  on  Chinese  loess,  273,  292. 

Rivers. 

Angara,  208,  210,  311. 

Chu,  308. 

Columbia,  submerged  trees  in,  134,  333,  338. 

Danube,  338,  407. 

Delaware,  old   channel  of,  217. 

Detroit,  402. 

Dnieper,  318. 

Erie,  402. 

Ganges,  407. 

Grand,  Mich.,   330. 

Hoangho,  changes  in  channel  of,  285,  407. 

Hubbardston,  Vt.,  337. 

Hudson,  old  channel  of,  217. 

Hi,  308. 

Illinois,  402. 

Irtysh,  309. 

Jaxartes,   308. 

Jordan,   124;   parting  of  the  waters  of,   130-144,  403. 

Khilok,  210. 

Lena,  320. 

Litany,  125. 

Mohawk,   331. 

Mississippi,  211,  407,  408. 

Missouri,  272,  334. 

Niagara,  402. 

Nile,  eastern  branch  of,   103;   sources  of  the,  72;  causes  of 
the  overflow  of,  72;  eastern  branch  of,  103. 

Nith,  407. 

Osage,  335. 

Oxus,  308. 

Plum  Creek,  Ohio,   a  glacial  chronometer,  232. 


I  ndex.  43 1 


Rivers. 

Po,    211,    407. 

Port  Neuf,  333. 

Poultney,  Vt.,  337. 

Red  of  the  North,  332. 

Rhine,  274,  old  course  of,  218. 

Rhone,  407. 

Selenga,  210,   212. 

Snake,  lost,   137,  333. 

St.  Clair,  402. 

St.  Lawrence,  old  channel  of,  218. 

Susquehanna,  old  channel  of,  217. 

Tarim,  309. 

Tornadus,   177. 

Uda,   210. 

Ural,  307. 

Volga,  307. 

Yangtsekiang,  286. 

Zab,   177. 
Romany,  burning  oil-well   at,  403. 
Rousseau  concerning  Christianity,  22. 
Rubble  drift,  description  of,  241-256;   at  Calais,  241;  at  East 

Brighton,  241,  242,  245;    at  other  places  in   Southern  Eng- 
land, 245;  distance  carried,  246,  249;  theories  of,  248-256; 

correct  theory  of,  251. 
Russell,  Prof.  Israel  C,  on  Lake  Lahontan,  334. 

Sahara,  Desert  of,  produces  no  loess,  302. 

Salisbury,    Prof.    R.    D.,    quoted    on    the    date   of   the    Glacial 

epoch,  234;  on  instability  of  the  earth's  crust,  405-407,  408; 

on  depth  of  ice  in  the  Glacial  epoch,  410;   cited,  416,  417. 
Salt,  around  the  Dead  Sea,  145. 
Samaria,   124. 
Samaritans,  the,  42. 

San  Francisco,  409  ; -earthquake  of,  126. 
Santenay,  mountain  of,  259,  262,  267. 


432  Index. 

Sa^ce,  Prof.  A.  H.,  quoted,  155,  392. 

Schaff,  Dr.  Philip,  cited,  389. 

Schweinfurth,   G.  A.,  cited,  99. 

Seals,  Arctic,  in  Lake  Baikal  and  Caspian  Sea,  305. 

Seas. 

Adriatic,  211. 

Aral,  305,  saltness  of,  214,  306;  level  of,  308. 

Caspian,    213;    saltness   of,    214,    305,    306;    Arctic   seal    in, 

306. 
Dead,    depth   of,    121,   408;    geology   of,    144,   215;    age   of, 

216. 
Red,  passage  of,  87-117. 

Second  Causes,  God's  relation  to,  33-36,  87,  93,  118,  130,  143, 
152. 

Sediment,    amount  of,   in   Chinese   rivers,   285. 

Sennacherib,  destruction  of  army  of,  52-57 ;  referred  to  by  Jo- 
sephus  and  Herodotus,  54;  agency  of  mice  in,  54;  rela- 
tions of,  to  Hezekiah,  57. 

Serbonian  Bog,  53,  97. 

Shalmaneser  II.,  black  obelisk  of,  60. 

Shepherd  Kings,  in  Egypt,  79. 

Shishak,  expedition  of,  to  Palestine,  62. 

Shiwantse,  China,  houses  in  the  loess  at,  290,  294,  295,  296. 

Siberia,  during  the  Glacial  epoch,  284. 

Sicily,  hippopotamus  in,  219,  265,  348. 

Sioux  City,  343. 

Smith,  George,  quoted,  160. 

Sodom   and  Gomorrah,  destruction  of,  144-152. 

Spartacus,  203. 

Species,  stability  of,  during  Tertiary  period,  355,  356;  de- 
struction of,  238,  345,  352-358. 

Spitzbergen,  changes  of  level  in,  330. 

Stadling,  J.,  on  raised  beach  in   Siberia,  320. 

Stanley,  Dean,  cited,  394. 

Stevenson,  Prof.  J.  J.,  on  changes  of  level  in  Spitzbergen,  320. 

St.  Helena,  388. 


Index.  433 


St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  272,  343,  346. 

Store  cities  in  Egypt,   80,  82. 

Stubbs,  Prof.  William,  cited,  33. 

Sudd,  Nile  obstructed  by,  74-77. 

Suez  Canal,  95. 

Suez,  Gulf  of,  94;  former  extension  of,  95. 

Sun  set  in  the  heavens,  379. 

Sungarian  depression,  309. 

Tarr,  Prof.  R.  S.,  on  earthquake  in  Alaska,  251,  411. 

Tartars,  wanderings  of  the,   315. 

Tashkent,  299,   305. 

Tatian's  Diatessaron,   19,  389. 

Tajlor,  Mr.  Frank  B.,  cited,  416. 

Temperature  of  the  earth,   226,   372,  410. 

Tertiar}'  period,  changes  of  level  in,  204. 

Texas,  oil-wells  in,  146. 

Thompson,  A.  B.,  quoted,  403. 

Tidal   waves,   250. 

Tientsin,  formerly  on  the  sea,  286. 

Toledo,  Ohio,  106. 

Trebizond,   raised   beach   at,   315,   316. 

Tschernyschev,  Dr.  T.  N.,  on  origin  of  loess,  310. 

Tulloch,   Major-General,   106. 

Tuscumbia,  Mo.,  Canadian  boulders  at,  335,  416. 

Uniformitarianism    in    geology,    199. 
Upham,  Mr.   Warren,  cited,  416,  417. 
Usher,  Archbishop,  quoted,   189. 

Walcott,  C.  D.,  cited,  409. 
Wallace,  Prof.  A.  R.,  quoted,  354. 
Ward,  Mr.  John,  cited,  399. 
West  Elizabeth,  Pa.,  410. 
Whitney,  Prof.  J.  D.,  cited,  407. 
Willcocks,  on  sources  of  the  Nile,  74-76. 


434  Index. 


Wilson,   Prof.   Robert  Dick,  on  Darius  the  Mede,   50,   397. 

Winchell,  Prof.  Alexander,  382. 

Wincheli,  Prof.  N.  H.,  cited,  417,  418. 

Wind,    effect    of,    on    water    levels,    106;    as    a    transporting 

agency,   301 ;   in  the  deposition  of  loess,   302. 
Wright,   F.   B.,   journey   across  Asia,  283. 
Wright,   Mrs.   G.   F.,  journey  through   Europe,  283. 
Writing,  early  use  of,  30. 
Written  history,   importance  of,  4;   indispensable  to  progress, 

5-8;    a  stimulus   to  the   intellect,   8-1 1;    capable  of    a    high 

degree  of  certaint}^,  11-14. 

Xerxes,  son  of  Cambyses,   395. 
Xisuthrus,  172. 


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